JustiGuide Aims to Use AI to Help People Navigate the U.S. Immigration System

The U.S. immigration process is known for being complicated, confusing, and costly. JustiGuide, a new startup, believes its AI-powered platform can make the experience for immigrants much easier.

The company’s mission is to help people understand immigration laws, explore which visas they may qualify for, and connect directly with immigration attorneys — ultimately making the journey quicker and more affordable.

Founder Bisi Obateru, originally from Nigeria, said his experience inspired the idea. After finishing his studies in the U.S., he had to navigate the system on his own, eventually securing an H-1 B visa and then a green card.

“I think the more we make the technology accessible, the more people will feel empowered to fill out their own forms, understand their options, and use lawyers mainly for reviews,” Obateru told TechCrunch. He emphasised that immigrants can use the platform in their native language and receive guidance tailored to their situation.

JustiGuide won the Best Pitch award in the Policy + Protection category at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Obateru said its users include startup founders looking to hire foreign workers, individuals on H-1 B visas seeking alternative pathways, international students considering entrepreneurship, and attorneys and law firms. Over time, he hopes government agencies may even choose to license the technology.

The platform features an AI research assistant, a system that matches immigrants with attorneys, and tools to streamline the preparation of immigration forms. According to Obateru, the service helps lawyers quickly compile documents and handle tasks that are usually time-consuming for paralegals.

JustiGuide currently has 47,000 users and uses an AI model known as Dolores, described as a continually improving, domain-specific system built to understand U.S. immigration law. Dolores can also translate information into 12 different languages.

To train the model, the startup used more than 40,000 court cases sourced from the Free Law Project, a nonprofit offering open access to legal materials. JustiGuide is also working to register as a law firm so it can directly connect users with its own immigration attorneys.

Early on, the company programmed Dolores to search across platforms like Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn using keyword triggers, reaching out to immigrants and offering helpful responses.

To safeguard users, the platform stores data on-premises, encrypts it, and only shares information when an immigrant chooses to connect with a lawyer. Some data is further anonymised to protect privacy.