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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallAizada Marat says bad immigration advice left her unable to work for more than a year—even though she had a job offer from Cooley. The experience helped shape Alma, which began as software for immigration law firms and later became an attorney-led U.S. immigration service supported by technology. Her account explains the company’s origin, but it is not independent proof of malpractice or evidence that AI can guarantee an immigration result.
Who is Aizada Marat?
Born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, Marat came to the United States at 17 through the U.S. State Department-sponsored FLEX exchange program. She later attended Harvard Law School and became an attorney. After graduating, she moved to London, then returned to California in 2018 with her husband, Chyngyz Dzhumanazarov, who had attended Stanford Graduate School of Business. Marat subsequently worked at Cooley and McKinsey before becoming a founder. TechCrunch’s July 2024 profile and Marat’s account of Alma’s founding describe that path.
Her experience as both an immigration applicant and a lawyer informed her interest in the problem. It does not, on its own, establish the quality of Alma’s legal work.
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What does Marat say went wrong?
According to Marat, after returning to California in 2018, she found a Palo Alto immigration lawyer through Google and sought advice about her status and employment authorization. She says the lawyer advised her incorrectly about when she could file, leaving her unable to work and unable to leave the United States while she waited. She had a job offer from Cooley, and later confronted the firm about the mistake.
TechCrunch described the period as more than a year; Marat’s later account puts it at about a year and a half. The available reporting does not independently verify the underlying filing error, identify the lawyer, or establish whether a malpractice claim or disciplinary action followed. The account should therefore be understood as Marat’s description, not a proven finding of malpractice.
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How did that experience lead to Alma?
Marat has described the origin as a progression rather than a sudden leap from a bad experience to an AI company. She questioned why a complicated, high-stakes legal process could depend so heavily on the quality and practices of an individual lawyer. Her work at Cooley and McKinsey, conversations with immigration attorneys, and interest in automating repetitive legal work also informed the idea. In her founding story, she describes wanting technology to give attorneys more time for strategy and client service.
Alma was co-founded by Marat, Assel Tuleubayeva, a former Step product manager, and Shuo Chen, a former Uber engineering manager. Marat has said all three are immigrants and have collectively held about 15 visas. The founders initially built workflow software for immigration law firms. After selling it to five firms for roughly four or five months, they pivoted in 2023 to serve individuals and companies directly, according to TechCrunch and Marat’s founding account.
What Alma does today
Alma’s identity has shifted. In its early coverage it was described as an AI-powered legal technology startup; today, the company presents itself as an immigration law firm supported by a software platform. Alma says its attorneys lead cases while its technology supports case strategy, document workflows, progress tracking, and risk identification. Its About Us page describes service for individuals and companies.
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Where AI fits—and where it does not
Alma’s pitch is not that a chatbot replaces an immigration attorney. Its stated model uses software to organize documents and case information, support pathway analysis, flag possible issues, manage deadlines and communications, and reduce repetitive administrative work. Alma says its platform learns from thousands of past outcomes and that experienced attorneys own each case. Those are company claims, not independently audited findings about performance.
Tools can help structure a case, but they cannot create qualifying evidence, decide every legal question without judgment, or control government adjudication. An applicant’s eligibility and outcome still depend on the applicable rules, the facts and supporting record, and decisions by agencies or consulates. A faster document workflow is not the same as faster approval.
What Alma’s public claims and pricing mean for applicants
Alma’s homepage advertises a 98%+ approval rate across hundreds of cases, an 86 NPS, and about two weeks of preparation after evidence is collected, compared with four to six weeks at traditional firms. These are company-published figures and claims; the available material does not establish a case-matched independent methodology, and they are not guarantees for a new applicant. The preparation estimate concerns work after evidence collection, not the time a government takes to decide a petition. See Alma’s homepage.
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As listed on Alma’s pricing page on August 18, 2026, its standard professional fees included the following examples. They are legal-service fees, not an all-in estimate of immigration costs.
| Service | Listed professional fee |
|---|---|
| O-1 new petition | $8,000 |
| O-1 extension | $3,000 |
| O-1 change of employer | $5,000 |
| H-1B lottery registration | $500 |
| H-1B cap or cap-exempt case | $3,500 |
| H-1B extension | $3,000 |
| L-1 initial or new-office case | $8,000 |
| TN new case | $3,000 |
| STEM OPT EAD initial or extension | $600 |
| EB-1A | $10,000 |
| EB-2 NIW | $10,000 |
| EB-2 NIW with approved O-1 | $7,000 |
| PERM labor certification | $8,000 |
| Adult adjustment-of-status bundle | $3,500 |
Alma says its fees generally are charged upfront; it also describes monthly Growth or Enterprise arrangements for larger companies and a 50/50 payment plan for businesses. Its pricing page says listed fees include responses to RFEs and NOIDs, administrative charges such as postage and copying, one free refile after an initial denial, implementation support, and software access. Government filing fees and costs such as premium processing, translations, medical examinations, consular fees, or dependents may be additional. Confirm the live pricing page and the engagement agreement for the exact scope, exceptions, and total expected cost.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Funding and the company’s evolution
TechCrunch reported in July 2024 that Alma had raised $5.1 million in combined seed and pre-seed funding, backed by Bling Capital, Forerunner, Village Global, NFX, Conviction, MVP, NEA, and Silkroad Innovation Hub. Marat later described the company as having raised $5.5 million. The available accounts do not explain the difference, so it should not be assumed to represent a particular new round.
Marat has also framed the market as fragmented, citing more than 20,000 law firms. That figure is her characterization, not an independently verified market statistic in the cited coverage. The broader problem Alma targets is easier to describe without relying on that number: applicants may struggle to assess legal service quality in advance, while manual portals, spreadsheets, and status-chasing can make a high-stakes process hard to follow.
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What to check before hiring Alma or any immigration service
A technology platform may improve organization, but the engagement remains a legal and financial decision. Before signing with any provider, ask:
- Who is the attorney of record? Get the lawyer’s name, licensing jurisdiction, role, and details about who makes legal decisions and reviews or signs filings.
- What does the fee cover? Separate legal fees from government filing fees, premium processing, dependents, consular processing, and other likely expenses. Ask whether RFE and NOID responses are included.
- What does “refile” mean? Alma lists one free refile after an initial denial. Confirm which cases qualify and what the term covers; a refile is not an appeal and does not guarantee approval.
- How is sensitive data handled? Immigration files can contain passports, birth certificates, employment and financial records, and family information. Ask about retention and deletion, access controls, subcontractors, and whether client data is used to train models. Do not assume an AI label answers those questions.
- Does the provider handle your type of matter? Alma’s public positioning emphasizes employment and talent immigration. Confirm coverage directly if you need asylum, removal defense, criminal-immigration advice, a complex waiver, or litigation.
- What evidence will the case require? For routes such as O-1, EB-1A, or NIW, the strategy depends on the applicant’s facts and documentary record. Software cannot manufacture achievements, publications, awards, or qualifying relationships.
- What does the timeline measure? Distinguish the provider’s preparation time from government processing, and ask what delays may depend on you, an employer, recommenders, a consulate, or an agency.
- How will the team handle difficult facts? Disclose prior status issues, unauthorized employment, travel, criminal history, and inconsistent records. Ask how the attorney will evaluate them before filing.
Alma is one model within a broader immigration-technology category, not a universal substitute for legal representation. Boundless offers consumer-oriented immigration assistance particularly associated with family-based matters; Lawfully is associated with case tracking and information tools; and Migrun describes digital immigration guidance across countries and routes. Their current services and attorney involvement should be verified directly, and none should be treated as interchangeable with a lawyer handling a specific case.
What Marat’s story says about Alma
Marat’s account supplies a personal reason for building Alma, but the company’s more concrete response is its attempt to standardize the operational work around attorney-led immigration cases: organize evidence, make progress visible, and reduce manual process friction. Whether that model suits an applicant depends on the responsible attorney, the case type, the evidence, the fee terms, and how the provider protects sensitive information. Technology may support legal work; it cannot eliminate immigration risk.
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