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TUKKI’S CHOICE OF BUSINESS MODELS TO IMPROVE THE US IMMIGRATION EXPERIENCE.
Contributor
Ramiro Roballos
Reading time
3 mins read
Date published
Aug 9, 2024
I'm still convinced that execution is more important than strategy. However, some strategic decisions can make or break your business.
One key decision is choosing the industry you want to enter. Many years ago at Kellogg, I read a statistic that stuck with me: 50% of a business's success depends on the industry you choose.
The next crucial decision is your business plan and positioning. Even though our team at Tukki chose to work in immigration, we could have gone in different directions, like selling software to lawyers or automating the immigration process to replace lawyers. Each option would lead to very different business models, clients, company types, required skills, and economic implications.
I’m asked a lot why we chose to work with lawyers instead of running other business model options. I’ll answer that in this article.
To make a significant impact in the industry, we need to address the biggest pain points, which do not lie with the lawyers, but with the immigrants.
After interviewing dozens of lawyers and immigrants, it became clear that immigrants face the most challenges: inefficient processes, lack of visibility, slow responses, stress, and uncertainty. While lawyers could benefit from better technology, we believed we could make a bigger impact by working directly with immigrants.
Additionally, we think that the pain points that immigrants currently experienced can't be solved by software alone. It requires a combination of software and operations. Great lawyers are part of the operations piece, but bringing in business best practices from other industries makes a huge difference for the immigration experience and ease of process for lawyers.
Involving immigration lawyers from the start is essential to providing the best service to immigrants — we’ve learned this from personal experience. Immigration law is complex and rarely clear-cut. You need the expertise and judgment of an experienced lawyer. While many steps in the process can be automated, there are moments where a lawyer's input is crucial, such as:
Additionally, obtaining a visa or a green card is a life-changing event; immigrants want a team they can rely on, someone to chat with and answer their questions. Our vision of the best immigration experience is the opposite of a self-service, impersonal experience with an AI. We believe in providing a warm, supportive environment with real human interaction.
People often ask, "If you still have lawyers on your team, why should I work with Tukki instead of going directly to a lawyer?"
We combine the best of both worlds: expert knowledge from lawyers and a highly efficient, customer-focused process enabled by our technology.
Neither can deliver the best experience to immigrants alone; you need both.
I admit, this approach didn't come without its challenges! It’s far more complicated to acquire customers, service them, get great lawyers, manage operations end-to-end, and build a great product than just focus on one section of the journey. Scaling is also much easier when you're building a B2B SaaS solution compared to managing operations. That's why, since day one, Tukki has obsessively focused on streamlining operations with technology to become exponentially more efficient and scalable than the status quo.
If you want to truly reinvent an industry, you need to go all in, and that's what we signed up for.
To tap into that expert knowledge from lawyers and efficient, customer-focused process enabled by our technology, start with our Visa Match tool, and find out what your best options for US immigration are.
WE CAN HELP
Need more clarity?
Find quick answers to frequent visa questions from our legal experts
How do I demonstrate that my work is in the national interest of the United States?
To prove that your work is in the national interest, you must show that it has a direct and significant impact on the U.S. in areas such as technology, healthcare, education, economic growth, or national security.
Your contributions should provide clear benefits to the country as a whole, beyond just your employer or local community.
You can demonstrate this through government reports, industry publications, media coverage, patents, or letters from experts confirming that your work aligns with national priorities and contributes to broader advancements in society, an industry, or the economy.
Does EB-1A have a visa backlog?
For most countries, EB-1A does not have a visa backlog and visas are immediately available.
However, applicants born in India and China typically face multi-year backlogs due to high demand.
Is it the same to do a change of status within the U.S. vs getting a visa abroad?
Not exactly. You can enter the U.S. in one status (e.g., tourist visa) and then request a change of status to another (e.g., O-1A). However:
1. This only changes your status inside the U.S.
2. If you leave the country, you’ll need to visit a U.S. consulate abroad to obtain a visa stamp before reentering.
3. At that consular interview, officers may question your initial intent at the time of entry.
While changing status avoids an immediate trip abroad, we generally recommend consular processing from the start to avoid complications later. However, there are certain situations in which a change of status could be the best solution.
Can I switch from a tourist visa to a work visa while in the U.S.?
It’s possible through a change of status with USCIS, but officers may question your original intent when entering. Consular processing is often safer.
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