Sapna Patel’s ImmiAdvisor allows applicants to customise online profiles, and even directs them towards job opportunities
Sapna Patel’s passion for business evolved from observing, at age seven, her uncle trade on the share market to making a profit out of selling her HSC notes at 18, then to a combined degree of Commerce (Marketing) and Laws at The University of New South Wales. After graduation, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at The Australian National University, and was admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
After a few years in the corporate world working at a large multinational professional services firm in their Sydney office, the then 26-year-old left to reconnect with her childhood dream of starting her own business—ImmiAdvisor (www.immiadvisor.com), an online marketplace for visa applicants and migration agents/lawyers to connect, with the vision of it becoming the pinnacle of online migration agent/lawyers ratings and reviews.
“After seeing all these stories in the media of visa applicants being subjected to visa fraud, I wanted to make a database of Registered Migration Agents/Lawyers accompanied by real life testimonials left by previous visa applicants. The aggregated ratings and reviews allow subsequent visa applicants to make a more informed decision when choosing a Registered Migration Agent/Lawyer,” she says.
ImmiAdvisor is free for visa applicants to create and customise an online profile, where they specify details about their visa requirements including which visa subclass they require and how urgent their visa application is. “I have tried to ensure that visa applicants benefit the most from ImmiAdvisor, which is why I made it a start-to-finish platform,” says Sapna. In addition to the blog which offers visa applicants information about moving to a new country, ImmiAdvisor, which has partnered with several blue-chip companies, also allows job seekers to scope out potential jobs over 50 different countries.
From just a small idea sparked by Sapna’s passions and industry experience, ImmiAdvisor has grown into a local Australian company with a global outlook, with its current focus on visa applicants wishing to migrate to the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The now 28 year old was newly announced as the 2016 inaugural winner of The CEO Institute & UNSW Entrepreneur Development Scholarship for her business. “Each month, a group of CEOs come together to discuss business problems. It’s truly an invaluable experience—being able to bounce my ideas off some of Australia’s leading CEOs and learn from both their successes and challenges. I think it will be key in catalysing business growth and personal development.”
If you require visa advice, or if you know someone who does, don’t hesitate to contact Sapna Patel (sapna@immiadvisor.com) or visit www.immiadvisor.com. You can keep up-to-date with Sapna’s venture through ImmiAdvisor’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/immiadvisor) and Twitter (@ImmiAdvisor).
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