How Instalily Built an Immigration Program That Scales With Their Team

Instalily is a fast-growing AI startup based in New York, building domain-trained AI teammates for distribution-heavy industries. After raising their $25M Series A, they’ve scaled from 25 to 90 employees.

Before working with Alma, Instalily partnered with a traditional firm. With a team growing this quickly, their immigration program wasn’t able to keep up.

Why Alma?

When Instalily started evaluating other options, firms would present immigration as largely straightforward, with broad assurances about outcomes.

Rachel Krah, the Head of People, wasn't convinced.

"They made everything seem too good to be true,” Rachel says. “Alma was much more pragmatic and honest about how difficult certain things can be with the immigration process."

With Alma

Since partnering with Alma, Instalily has worked through a range of case types (J-1 visas, H-1B cap filings, and H-1B transfers), each handled with the same level of care and responsiveness.

"The employee experience has really benefited from it. They feel a lot more heard and understood and secure."

— Rachel Krah

The Results

In their first H-1B cap season with Alma, Instalily submitted 8 cases. This past season, that number reached 40, a 5x increase, with a 100% approval rate across every case type and no added operational burden.

The impact went beyond the numbers. Employees now get answers directly from attorneys instead of routing everything through HR. Deadlines are flagged, cases stay on track, and Rachel no longer has to chase anything down.

That's what a scalable immigration program looks like—international hiring that grows with the company without becoming anyone's full-time job.

"I would recommend Alma particularly to startups that are looking to continue to grow and expand their hiring and want to invest in international talent long term."

— Rachel Krah