A foreign-worker placement agency ran permit cases from memory and email threads — and deadlines slipped. We built an automated case tracker that collects documents over WhatsApp, verifies them with OCR and guards every ministry date. Cycles shortened by three weeks.
Typical results
8 wks
Permit cycle, down from 11
0
Ministry deadlines missed once live
94%
Documents verified first pass
120+
Active cases on autopilot
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Each permit file meant passports, medical certificates, employer declarations and ministry forms — collected from workers who rarely use email, in several languages, against hard government deadlines. Coordinators juggled 120+ active cases in spreadsheets. Document collection alone took 12 days, cases stalled silently, and about six ministry deadlines were missed a year, each one delaying a placement.
Before and after
Permit cycle
−27%Document collection
−75%Missed ministry deadlines
−100%The automation
We gave every case an automated checklist keyed to its permit type. Workers send documents as WhatsApp photos; OCR extracts and validates each field, bouncing blurry or expired items back with instructions in the worker's language. Complete files auto-assemble into the immigration lawyer's package format. A deadline engine tracks every ministry date and nudges the worker, employer or lawyer — whoever owes the next step — days before anything slips.
How it works
- 01
Case opened
Every new worker gets an automated checklist keyed to their permit type, with all required documents and dates.
- 02
Documents over WhatsApp
Workers photograph passports, certificates and forms in chat — no email, no scanner, no office visit.
- 03
OCR verification
Fields are extracted and validated instantly; blurry or expired documents bounce back with instructions in the worker's language.
- 04
Lawyer package
Complete files auto-assemble into the immigration lawyer's required format, ready to submit.
- 05
Deadline guard
Ministry dates are tracked per case, and whoever owes the next step gets nudged days before anything slips.
Starts from
- Worker documents via WhatsApp
- Ministry deadlines per case
Delivers
- Lawyer-ready document packages
- Deadline nudges to every stakeholder
- Live case status board
The impact
Document collection falls from 12 days to 3, and the full permit cycle shortens from 11 weeks to 8. Ministry deadlines stop slipping, from about six missed a year to none, and 94% of documents pass OCR verification on the first attempt, with coordinators handling only the exceptions.
Questions about this automation
How do workers send their documents?
Workers photograph passports, medical certificates and forms and send them in a WhatsApp chat, with no email or scanner needed. Instructions are sent in the worker's language. Each photo is attached to the right case and checklist item automatically, so coordinators can see what has arrived and what is still missing.
What does the OCR step check?
OCR reads the key fields on each document, such as name, document number and expiry date, and checks them against the case details. Blurry, cropped or expired documents are sent back to the worker with a short explanation of what to resend. Coordinators only review documents the check could not confirm.
How are ministry deadlines tracked?
Each case carries the dates that apply to its permit type. The deadline engine checks them daily and, days before a step is due, nudges whoever owes it: the worker, the employer or the immigration lawyer. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages, starting with document collection.