It’s rare to find a professional who exhibits both the qualities of being an excellent communicator as well as a visionary stalwart. Joe Chen, the Co-Founder and COO, SuperVisas, an immigration platform built basically to help immigrants with visa procedures and other legalities has carved a niche for himself in the ever-growing industry. His vast knowledge in complex technological systems coupled with consistency to persuade his goals have remained his biggest assets as a professional. He spoke on an array of topics – from conception of SuperVisas to challenges faced by the industry, from new offerings from the firm to entrepreneurship.  Excerpts from the interview:

Conception of SuperVisas

Notes Joe that Though immigration is not a new industry, the process remains very confusing and frustrating for applicants, because of the lack of transparency and fraud involved.

Born in Shanghai, Joe says that he was always curious about living in a foreign country on his own. As he himself underwent through the painful legal and other processes involved in migrating to Canada, he was determined to help immigrants.

Sean Fu, the co-founder and CEO of SuperVisas has significant experience of over 9 years in the immigration Industry.

Once he got familiar with the industry, he realized that so he decided to start a company of his own that would offer services at an affordable price. He first started a non-tech and referral based immigration company that was successful with Joe. They realized that in order to scale the business, ‘tech’ is the key and eventually came up with the idea of SuperVisas.

“With 150+ immigration programs, Canada has one of the most complex immigration systems in the world and yet there was no solution in the market to navigate through this entire system. This was a major issue, and something had to be done about it.”

Adds Joe that they joined the Founder Institute in 2019 which provided them with the knowledge of the fundamentals to a startup. SuperVisas was incorporated in June 2019. The following year in February 2020, the company won the Velocity Pitch Competition with a prototype and received a C$50K SAFE investment from Velocity Incubator, which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo. “To us, that was huge and the first validation that our business is worth investing. It gave us more confidence and resources (funds, mentors and more) to continue with business expansion.

Shortly after, we met Spencer at Velocity in Waterloo. At the young age of 24, he already has 3 years of experience in software and product development. He graduated from University of Waterloo with a degree in Software Engineering and joined SuperVisas as a technical co-founder in 2020.  As a child, he lived in a number of different countries and has been through the visa processes of 4 different countries. Due to his experience, he understands the process every immigrant has to go through, which is why he is motivated to simplify the application process for applicants with the help of technology.

Services

SuperVisas is an immigration platform built to provide hassle-free visa and legal services to immigrants. The firm is licensing its automation software to overseas immigration agencies who provide immigration consulting services to potential candidates locally.

You focus on the applicant, we focus on the application:

The secret to agency growth is to quit doing everything yourself. SuperVisas empowers agencies to find qualified leads so that they can attract and convert the right prospective clients. With SuperVisas’ help, one of our partner agencies managed to save $100K CAD while doubling their revenue — in less than one year.

Every program supported, the minute the government releases it:

SuperVisas offers 150+ immigration programs and the most up-to-date information on Canadian government policies. SuperVisas has all the resources in-house to support partner’s clients and will help partner match them with the right program based on their qualifications and preferences. SuperVisas even offers pathways for partner’s client to qualify should they not yet meet the current immigration criteria.

The most reliable immigration service today:

SuperVisas are a team of immigrants, so the team understand the process from the inside out. SuperVisas platform is backed by 24/7 service availability – partner and partner’s clients can engage with us at any time of day or from any time zone. SuperVisas pride itself on offering amazing, prompt customer service, delivered by people who deeply care about partner and partner clients’ success.

Words of Advice

As a startup in the legal industry, it’s important to comply with the regulations and laws and always be aware of potential compliance issues, maintains Joe. “Many regulations or laws are set up considering only how a traditional business or law firm operates, not a software startup. As we need to check our compliance frequently, we engaged with a reputable, trusted counsel and have maintained a very close relationship with them.”

Success Mantra

Putting customers first and professionalism are two key foundations for building trust with your customers, adds Joe. “I think fear of failure is very common to have among founders of startups. Planning with achievable goals and focusing on what you can control are key to overcoming fear of failure.”