Product Lead, Research, Design
1 Researcher, 2 Designers
16 Weeks
Research, Interaction Design, User Testing
Short on time? I got you covered.
Led the design of an app that helps international students in Canada track work permit eligibility requirements.
100,000+ international students come to Canada yearly, contributing $37B in tuition. Yet, 20% fail to meet work permit requirements, losing the chance to stay and work after graduation.
93% issue resolution rate, 90% user satisfaction, and 75% anxiety reduction.
The Problem
International students contribute $37.3 billion annually to the Canadian economy and make up 68% of universities' revenue. Yet, despite their immense contributions, support systems for these students are alarmingly insufficient.
Understanding the problem space
60+
Surveys. Surveyed students from around the world, across various programs and years of study.
20
Interviews. Spoke to students and international advisors at universities.
Key Insights
83% students struggle primarily with one key requirement: maintaining full-time student status.
Why is this important?
Immigration Canada requires students to maintain full-time status in all semesters of their program to be eligible for a work permit in Canada after graduation.
User Pain Points
"I didn’t know dropping one course would affect my work permit. By the time I realized, it was too late"
- Ansh, 4th Year
"No one told me I had to stay a full-time student. It cost me my future in Canada"
- Harry, 3rd Year
"I felt completely unsupported when it came to understanding the immigration process"
- James, 1st Year
"I had no idea missing a semester could mess up my work permit eligibility"
- Mary, 2nd Year
What's not working?
Conducted a second round of interviews with international student advisors at the university, followed by secondary research to assess the available resources and tools for international students.
67%
First Year Students go to International Advisors and rely on school portal
74%
Upper Year Students prefer going to Forums, Groups like Facebook and Reddit & Immigration Consultants
/
01
School portal doesn’t specify whether a student is considered full-time or part-time.
/
02
Information on how to deal with part-time status is not specific and reliable on forums and groups, often leading to confusion.
/
03
Immigration consultants charge $150–$250 for a 30-minute session, which is often unaffordable for students.
With Canada welcoming 100,000 + international students annually, this issue is only set to grow over time, making the need for a solution both urgent and impactful.
Initial Ideas + Design Decisions
We take advantage of the existing school portal by evaluating semester status and showing its impact on eligibility.
Registered courses
Total credits
Year of study
Doesn't show semester status (part-time/full-time)
Doesn't show impact on work permit eligibility
Pal offers clear, actionable and in-depth step-by-step guidance, free of cost, to address the need for reliable support.
Designing for the user experience began with sketching a typical user journey, combining Idea 1 (semester status and eligibility evaluation) and Idea 2 (AI Agent) to address all key user pain points and goals.
We began sketching high - level concepts and flows for our two main ideas: status evaluation and eligibility, and the AI agent Pal.
Feedback and Design Iterations
Even though our app provided solutions for fixing part-time status, students were still feeling stressed and overwhelmed.
I wish I knew how this would affect me before I dropped the course - it feels like the app is reacting too late. The damage is already done!
- Ashmit
We compared Pal with Reddit and ChatGPT to see how students tackle part-time semester challenges.
15+ clicks and 3 hours of digging and still no actionable advice.
Anxiety Level: High
5+ prompts with surface-level information
Anxiety Level: High
2 prompts leading to 100% resolution.
Anxiety Level: Low
Impact and metrics
Third Year, UK
"
I wasted so much time digging through Reddit posts that didn’t really help. Pal broke it down for me with clear steps on fixing my part-time semester issue and staying eligible. Honestly, such a relief!
Second Year, UAE
"
I reached out to an immigration consultant, and they wanted $150 for just 30 minutes of advice. I asked PermitPal the same question, and it gave me clear, practical steps to fix my issue - no hassle, no cost!
Resolution Rate
Based on feedback from 50+ students
90%
User satisfaction
Measured through post-experience surveys
Information Relevance
Users reported that Pal's advice was highly relevant to their situation.
2 Min
Time to Resolution
Average resolution time: 2 minutes, versus 3+ hours on Reddit.
75%
Anxiety Reduction
Asked users to rate their anxiety before and after using the Pal.
Final Design showcase
Real-time Recommendations: Get course-specific advice instantly to keep your work permit on track.
Personalized Guidance: Tailored suggestions to help you maintain or regain eligibility.
24/7 Availability: Instant answers to your queries, no stress, no confusion.
Semester Planning: Effortlessly add and plan courses with Pal’s intuitive assistance.
Reflection
/
01
When international advisors showed little interest in helping us distribute surveys, we turned to friends, who shared them further. Slowly but surely, momentum built. This taught us that persistence pays off - if the problem exists and you stay focused, the right users will find you. In design, it’s not about avoiding “no’s”; it’s about finding that one “yes.”
/
02
We wanted to onboard everyone - students, consultants & immigration advisors. It sounded great on paper, but we quickly realized we were losing sight of the real users. While scalability is exciting, we learned that in the beginning, baby steps are better. Staying focused on solving core user problems ensures we build something meaningful first before expanding into everything else.
/
03
We were tempted to add more features, but we focused on nailing the core functionality first. By getting it right and gathering early feedback, we ensured a strong foundation before expanding to connected features.
I spearheaded the redesign of the housing website at the University of Guelph
