By WayLit · Substantively updated October 16, 2026
To evaluate an immigration provider, establish what your workforce needs, confirm who will handle each part of the work, and ask for evidence that the proposed service can deliver it. Compare legal guidance, case coordination, employee support, compliance follow-through, country coverage, and total cost against the same requirements.
This guide is for HR and mobility teams reviewing an existing relationship or selecting a replacement. It includes questions to ask, evidence to request, and a way to turn the answers into a decision. If you are still deciding how much work to keep internally, start with our guide to in-house, shared, and managed immigration support.
Start with the work your program requires
Prepare the same short program brief for every provider. Include your current countries and case types, expected hires and moves, upcoming renewals, employee support needs, and the work your internal team can handle. Separate confirmed requirements from possible expansion plans.
Describe the coordination problems you want to resolve. For example, record how often HR relays employee questions, where case information is stored, and which follow-ups still depend on your team. Use recent examples with dates and owners. Protect employee information when sharing examples during selection.
Agree which requirements are essential before reviewing proposals. A provider's dashboard or response commitment cannot compensate for missing support for a country or case type your workforce needs. Confirm those requirements first.
Ask about ownership and request supporting evidence
A service description should explain who acts, what triggers the work, and what HR or mobility must provide. Use the questions below with your current provider or a prospective partner.
| Evaluate | Ask | Request |
|---|---|---|
| Legal support | Who advises on our case types and countries? Who oversees the work and handles escalation? | Relevant attorney or practitioner credentials, experience with comparable matters, and the escalation process. |
| Case coordination | Who requests documents, follows up on missing items, and keeps each party informed? | A representative workflow showing owners, outstanding tasks, and employer approvals. |
| Employee support | Can employees contact the support team and legal advisers directly between filings? Is guidance included in the case fee? | The support scope, contact channels, response commitments, and exclusions. |
| Compliance follow-through | Who tracks expiration dates and changes, assesses their implications, and coordinates the resulting work? | A demonstration from a recorded change or upcoming expiration through assessment, assigned action, and follow-up. |
| Global coordination | Which destinations and services are supported? How do local practitioners and the central team work together? | Country-specific scope, local contacts, handoffs, and a sample consolidated report. |
| Fees and transition | What is included, what costs extra, and how will active matters transfer? | An itemized proposal, written service scope, and a handover plan with named owners. |
Test the workflow with a realistic situation
Ask each provider to walk through the same situation. A hypothetical example: your company is planning an employee's move to another country while other employees have renewals approaching. The employee has questions, the hiring manager needs a realistic timeline, and HR needs to understand the expected cost.
Ask the provider to show how the request reaches qualified counsel, how the proposed move is assessed, who requests documents, and how the employee receives guidance. Then ask how the work appears alongside the renewals, how outstanding decisions reach HR and mobility, and who follows up.
Record what the provider demonstrates and what still requires confirmation. A sample workflow shows how a service is intended to work. References from employers with comparable needs can help you assess how consistently it works in practice.
Compare fees for the same service scope
Give every provider the same case mix and country requirements. Ask for legal and case-management fees, platform charges, government fees, third-party expenses, and any minimum commitment to be identified separately. Check the treatment of employee guidance, requests for additional information from immigration authorities, and work arising from changes during a case.
Also estimate the internal work your team will retain. Document collection, employee questions, invoice reconciliation, and reporting take staff time even when they do not appear on a provider's invoice. Use your own records or clearly labeled estimates when comparing that effort.
Keep assumptions next to the numbers. An incomplete quote should remain marked for clarification until you can compare it with the other proposals.
Make the transition part of the evaluation
Before agreeing a change, ask how the incoming and outgoing teams will coordinate active matters. Identify upcoming deadlines, responsible counsel, required records, access arrangements, employee communications, and any transition charges. Review file handling with the appropriate legal and security teams.
Agree how responsibility will be acknowledged for each matter. Where a filing or response is approaching, ask counsel whether to complete that stage with the existing team before transferring it. Build the sequence around the actual matters and deadlines.
Use a decision record your team can revisit
Separate essential requirements from preferences. Confirm the essentials first, then agree how your team will weigh the remaining criteria. Avoid changing the priorities after seeing which provider scores best.
For each criterion, record the requirement, the provider's answer, the evidence, any unresolved question, and the person responsible for confirming it. Mark an unverified answer as unconfirmed rather than giving it a favorable score.
If you are reviewing an existing provider, share the specific gaps and ask what can change, who will make the change, and when you will review progress. If you are selecting a replacement, use the same record to explain the decision and define the engagement.
Apply the checklist when considering WayLit
WayLit combines partner attorneys, case managers, employee support, and software for HR and mobility teams. Use the questions in this guide to evaluate that service against your countries, case needs, and internal responsibilities. Review how WayLit's case-management service works and confirm the agreed scope in the proposal.
Our comparison pages explain WayLit's approach from three different starting points:
- WayLit vs Fragomen: global coordination, legal support, and continuity when changing providers.
- WayLit vs Envoy Global: ownership of document requests, employee questions, and compliance follow-ups.
- WayLit vs BAL: planning hires, renewals, and international moves, including expected timing and costs.
Finish the review with a written scope that identifies what the provider will handle, what your team retains, how performance will be reviewed, and which questions must be resolved before work begins.
This is an operational selection guide. Have qualified counsel assess the legal requirements and circumstances of individual immigration matters.
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