Documents

Documents, checklists and the client portal

Every immigration file is a document problem wearing a legal hat. This is where the paperwork lives, and where the client can see what is still missing.

A practice does not drown in cases. It drowns in attachments: passport scans in an email thread, a bank statement in a chat app, a photograph of a letter taken at an angle, and three versions of the same form with no way to tell which one went to IRCC.

Meridian keeps the documents attached to the client, with the list of what is required and what is still outstanding beside them.

What is in it

  • Checklists per program. Every program brings its required documents, tracked against that client, so the gap is visible at a glance rather than remembered.
  • Requests the client understands. Ask for what is missing and the client sees plain instructions in the portal, not a forwarded checklist PDF.
  • A portal built for a nervous applicant with a phone. Uploading should not need a tutorial.
  • One place for the final package. The file that went to IRCC sits on the case, not in someone email.
  • Your firm library. Your own templates and material, uploaded once, and the assistant answers from them as well as from the public rules.
  • Signing in the same place. Signet seals the signed PDF with a Certificate of Completion and anyone can verify it later without an account.

Where the documents live

Documents are the part of this work a regulator will ask about years later. Data is stored in Canada, each firm is walled off from every other firm, access is audited, and the audit log is yours to export.

We are not SOC 2 certified yet. That is on the security page in plain words, because a vendor who hides that is a vendor to worry about.

Read the security page  ·  See Signet signing

The week this removes

Think about the hours that go into documents in a normal week. Asking for the same thing twice because the first email got buried. Renaming files so they make sense. Opening three attachments to find the one that is current. Explaining to a client, again, what a proof of funds letter needs to show.

None of that is legal work, and none of it is billable. It is filing, done by expensive people, in an inbox that was never designed for it.

Putting the requests, the uploads and the checklist in one place does not make the work interesting. It makes it short.

What we do not claim

Being clear about the edges matters more than another feature bullet.

  • We do not tell you whether a document is genuine. Assessing a document is your professional judgement and no software should pretend otherwise.
  • We do not translate official documents. Certified translation is a job for a certified translator.
  • We do not decide what a file needs. The checklist follows the program requirements, and you decide what the case actually requires.
  • We are not SOC 2 certified yet. The security page says so plainly and lists what we do have.

Questions people ask

How do clients send documents?

Through the portal, from a phone or a laptop. They see what is still outstanding for their own file and upload against it, so you stop receiving photographs of a passport in a chat app.

Does it know what documents a program needs?

Yes. Every program carries its required document list, tracked per client, so the outstanding items for a file are visible without opening a checklist in a separate document.

Can we use our own templates?

Yes. Upload your firm documents and templates into the firm library, and the assistant answers from your material as well as the public rules.

Where are the files stored?

In Canada, encrypted in transit and at rest, with audited access controls. We are not SOC 2 certified yet and we say so plainly on the security page.

What happens to the documents if we leave?

You export them. Ask any vendor this question before you sign, including us. Our answer is on the storage and retention page.

See the document side on a real file

A short walkthrough on an actual case, once we open to new firms.

Join the waitlist

We are not adding new firms until the next version is ready to release. Tell us about your practice and you go on the list. You hear from us first when it opens, with a walkthrough on a real file.

You are on the list.

We have your details. You will hear from us first when the next version opens.