{"id":4717,"date":"2022-05-09T06:10:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T06:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/?p=4717"},"modified":"2024-01-13T10:23:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T10:23:21","slug":"removing-the-barriers-to-immigration-marc-andre-ranger-talks-about-using-technology-to-solve-bottleneck-issues-in-immigration-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/removing-the-barriers-to-immigration-marc-andre-ranger-talks-about-using-technology-to-solve-bottleneck-issues-in-immigration-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing the Barriers to Immigration: Marc-Andr\u00e9 Ranger Talks About Using Technology to Solve Bottleneck Issues in Immigration Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
Immigration makes up a substantial proportion of population growth both in <\/span>Canada<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>U.S<\/span><\/a>. It plays a huge role in job fulfillment and the growth of the economy. However, the path to getting a work permit or residency<\/a> has long abided by outdated, paper contract methods.<\/span><\/p>\n Due to the sheer volume of file cases each year, government processors have a difficult time getting back to clients in a timely fashion\u2014often taking months after the application is sent. Worse even, sometimes the smallest errors will automatically be declined after a client has been waiting for months to hear back.<\/span><\/p>\n Bureaucracy is one issue, and another is the stubbornness to adopt certain technologies that can make this process more seamless and efficient. In recent years immigration lawyers have faced competition due to the rise of immigration consultants. Thus, they may see technology as an impediment to their valuable time and expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n People by default consult lawyers for immigration because it\u2019s seen as the most secure way to handle the process. However, processing delays and thousands of dollars spent, are leaving some clients frustrated with the system.<\/span><\/p>\n Marc-Andr\u00e9 Ranger<\/span><\/a> has spent the last two decades in immigration law and consulting. He had previously owned shares in an immigration law firm and owned a case processing company in Montreal between 2009 and 2017. His frustration with congestion and high costs led him to start Immisight<\/span><\/a>, a technology-based solution to immigration case processing. He shares his thoughts on the challenges in the current immigration industry and how technology can enable a solution to help alleviate these issues.<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: You\u2019ve worked in the Canadian immigration industry for the past two decades as well you were a shareholder for the past 4 years in an immigration law firm. What inspired you to leave that behind to pursue this venture?<\/b><\/p>\n When I became a shareholder in a law firm it was something quite new because the Quebec bar had only recently allowed non-lawyers to become minority shareholders in law firms. So I took that opportunity and entered into a joint venture with a lawyer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The whole idea was that we wanted to be as efficient as possible when we processed files. It’s been something that was on my mind all the time during those years; how could we improve the process. For example, back in the day, we would send a Word document or a PDF to a client, and they would have to fill it out, print them, sign them originally, and send them back. You can imagine it was quite time-consuming. But the government was slowly evolving towards digital case processing with the portal, My CIC, so I thought you know what? Immigration is all about data. It’s about your life history\u2014when you were born, the origin of citizenship, the countries you\u2019ve been to, criminal record, marital status, and kids. Collecting this data was taking up the bulk of the time and that’s where I got myself involved with building digital forms, to be able to gather this information live online, instead of the good old email exchange.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was fairly new to me so it took me a while to understand how conditional logic worked, how all these forms work, and how to integrate JavaScript or HTML code into our website. Once I got a taste of it I saw the potential to have a paperless law firm. After four years of being a shareholder at this company, I had other views and questioned why we were charging so much when we\u2019ve evolved into a digital world. So that’s why I decided to move on to a different venture where I can integrate immigration and technology and have a package that would beneficiate clients, where they would pay much less than what they have to pay to get decent quality legal services.<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: What are the biggest challenges you think your industry (immigration) is facing at the moment? What\u2019s your take on the solution?<\/b><\/p>\n