Not Alien is a VC-backed AI platform for immigration petition preparation, targeting the assembly phase of O-1A, NIW, EB-1, L-1, and H-1B petitions. Core workflow: intelligent document intake → exhibit list generation → expert letter drafting → final packet assembly, with Microsoft Word integration for attorney review/editing. Founded 2023 in San Francisco by Leonardo Shapiro (3x founder, former attorney, personal connection to immigration — family from Russia/Poland via Mexico City; prior exits: TiendaKit acquired, Airbanq funded by NFX/First Round Capital). Came out of stealth late 2023; featured on Code Story podcast (Dec 2023), Radio Entrepreneurs (Nov 2023), Finding Founders. ~115 LinkedIn followers, 2-10 employees. Website returned 503 at time of check. CRITICAL GAPS: Zero outcome evidence (no petition approval rate data, no case studies, no practitioner testimonials). Zero security documentation despite handling extremely sensitive PII (passport numbers, SSNs, financial records). No public pricing. No information on AI model or how expert letters are constructed. Founder’s LinkedIn now says ‘Working on something new’ — company continuity uncertain. Competes with PassRight (AI for O-1/EB-1A, established), VisaLaw.ai Drafts 2.0 (purpose-built immigration drafting), LegalBridge (AI immigration case management for complex petitions), and traditional tools like Docketwise and INSZoom. The market need is validated — Reddit r/eb_1a shows practitioners trying generic AI for EB-1A petitions and finding it inadequate — but Not Alien’s ability to serve that need is unverified.
Company Info
- Founded: 2023
- Team size: 1-10 employees
- HQ: United States
- Sector: Immigration
What We Haven’t Verified
This page was assembled from publicly available information. Feature claims and workflow mappings are based on what the vendor and third-party listings publish — not hands-on testing or practitioner feedback.
Workflows
Based on practitioner evidence, Not Alien is used in these workflows:
What practitioners struggle with
Real frustrations from legal professionals — the problems Not Alien addresses (or should address). Sourced from practitioner reviews, Reddit threads, and case studies.
USCIS processing times are a black box — cases bounce between service centers, timelines change without notice, and neither attorney nor client knows where things stand. No API, no push notifications, just manually refreshing a government website
H-1B cap season or a corporate transfer wave drops 50 to 200 similar matters on an immigration team at once, and the real bottleneck is not legal judgment but turning drafts, forms, exhibits, TOCs, pagination, bookmarks, and firm formatting into a submission-ready packet for every case without a weekend-long paralegal fire drill.
Immigration attorney preparing an O-1A or EB-1 extraordinary ability petition spends 15-30 hours per case manually building the evidentiary narrative — assembling academic citations, press coverage, awards, expert letters, and exhibit lists into a coherent package that satisfies USCIS's eight-prong test, and one weak exhibit package means an RFE that delays the client's life by months
Where it fits in your workflow
Before Not Alien
Immigration attorney completes client eligibility assessment → gathers raw evidence (CV, publications, awards, press coverage, recommendation letters, employment records) → needs to organize into a petition package satisfying USCIS criteria (e.g., 8-prong test for O-1A extraordinary ability). Not Alien enters at the assembly phase, after legal strategy is set.
After Not Alien
After petition assembled by Not Alien → attorney reviews/edits in Microsoft Word → finalized petition filed with USCIS → if RFE issued, additional evidence assembled. Tool handles assembly, not legal strategy or USCIS interaction.
Integrations & hand-offs
Not Alien (AI petition assembly, Word integration) → attorney review (Word) → USCIS filing (manual or e-filing). Integration with Docketwise, INSZoom, LawLogix, or other immigration case management platforms UNKNOWN. No integration documentation found.
Also used by similar teams
Community Data
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