Transforming the onboarding and in app experience of 10,000+ users looking to immigrate to Canada
introduction.
The immigration process can be complex and confusing, and newcomers are often isolated and vulnerable throughout. BorderPass was designed as an AI-powered immigration platform used by thousands of newcomers to come to Canada.
goal.
When I joined, the team was expanding its services beyond international students—and the product couldn’t keep up. A complex onboarding flow, rigid platform structure, and messy UI created confusion and drop-off.
My task: I needed to redesign onboarding to support all immigration services, reduce drop-offs, and unlock self-serve revenue.
impact.
The redesigned onboarding and platform architecture helped scale BorderPass from 10K to nearly 50K users, grow school partnerships from 1 to 30+, and drive monthly immigration revenue from ~$200K to over $600K.
The streamlined experience reduced support and legal ops workload by 70%, cut user drop-off by 50%, and enabled a scalable, self-serve model trusted by a global audience.
audit.
I collaborated with our customer support lead and internal lawyers to audit common user tickets and pain points. I also reviewed our application flows with the dev team to understand technical constraints.
misaligned onboarding.
Before users could even reach the homepage, they were forced through a lengthy, one-size-fits-all intake—repeating questions, uploading irrelevant documents, and answering prompts that didn’t match their needs.
high operational burden.
Lawyers and support staff routinely had to step in manually—reassigning users to the correct flows, tracking down missing documents, and restructuring information the system should have collected upfront.
poor eligibility signalling.
Users were asked to pay for services before knowing if they were eligible—hurting trust, increasing refunds, and wasting legal review time on ineligible applications.
users.
I collaborated with support staff, lawyers, devs, and stakeholders, and ran informal user interviews online and in person to uncover the most common pain points across our global audience. These personas guided our UX decisions across onboarding, architecture, and task flows.
newcomer.
Often outside of Canada and applying solo for a study, work, or immigration visa. Overwhelmed by vague requirements, unfamiliar processes, and language barriers.
Needs:
Clear guidance, transparent pricing, and a sense of trust early on.
in-country.
Currently studying or working in Canada. Often needs an extension or new application fast. Struggles to track documents and deadlines across services.
Needs:
Clarity, status visibility, and streamlined reapplication paths.
settlement.
Ready to apply for permanent residency or citizenship. Navigates strict requirements and high stakes, often while managing life transitions.
Needs:
Reassurance, legal clarity, and tools that minimize errors or rework.
architecture.
From interviews with lawyers, support staff, and devs, we uncovered a key misalignment: the product made users commit before they even understood what they were signing up for. Premature document uploads, lengthy questions, and upfront payments led to confusion, drop-off, and heavy staff intervention.
This insight — backed by user research and internal interviews — became the foundation for a new platform structure:
simplified onboarding.
Users now start with just the basics: name, contact info, and account creation. No forms, no documents, no payment walls.
This lowered the barrier to entry and aligned the product with user expectations from modern digital services.
central application hub.
Instead of being funneled into one-size-fits-all visa flows, users now land in a clear overview of all available services.
This shift — proposed by stakeholders frustrated with misrouted tickets — gives users choice and reduces support overhead.
universal application flows.
Every application now follows the same streamlined structure: upload - questionnaire - success predictor - payment - review.
This replaced inconsistent flows that forced lawyers to manually triage applications — a major operational burden.
onboarding.
We replaced forced flows with modern norms. Instead of asking for documents or payments up front, users now create an account like any other service—then explore the platform before committing. It’s intuitive, low-friction, and builds trust from the very beginning.
application hub.
Instead of auto-enrollment, users now see all available immigration services up front. This shift—guided by insights from legal, dev, and support teams—empowers users to choose the path that fits their journey.
reflection.
This work taught me how design decisions ripple through the system. Rethinking onboarding required zooming out to reshape platform structure, UI clarity, and emotional tone.
I had to account for the complexity of immigration law, the diversity of our user base, and the limited bandwidth of our team.
The result: a scalable product rooted in clarity, empathy, and trust.
