Cerebral Valley, a newsletter and community that says it reaches 80,000+ founders and engineers working in AI, featured Alma in a CV Deep Dive on November 15, 2024. The editorial interview with Alma co-founder and CEO Aizada Marat explains how Alma, a modern immigration law firm, helps highly skilled professionals and growing companies secure talent visas. The feature is an editorial Q&A with no ranking or scoring. It covers O-1A, H-1B, EB-1A, and EB-2 NIW pathways and how attorney-led strategy, supported by AI-powered tools, speeds up case preparation for founders and startups.
Why Cerebral Valley Put Alma in the Spotlight
The interview highlights three qualities that shape Alma's approach. Clients work directly with attorneys, and attorneys own case strategy and final submissions. AI-powered internal tools support document review and narrative building, which frees attorneys to focus on strategy. Coverage is broad: Alma began with O-1 visas for founders and now handles temporary work visas, including H-1B, L-1, and TN, and green cards, including EB-1 and EB-2 NIW. Marat organizes the firm around three pillars, Speed, Excellence, and Care, and returns to them throughout the conversation.
Inside Alma's Process for Founders and Hiring Teams
The interview walks through how a case moves at Alma. It starts with a free consultation to assess eligibility for different visas. Casework then runs in Alma's AI-powered platform, where clients see next steps and attorneys track what evidence is still missing, giving both sides real-time visibility. Attorneys build the narrative that presents a client's achievements to USCIS, while AI helps summarize dense technical material in plain language. Marat noted that complete packages can run 600 to 1,500 pages.
Alma's published proof points give that process measurable context. Alma reports a 98%+ approval rate firmwide, an 86 NPS, and 99%+ SLA adherence, and clients can follow case status in real time. Alma guarantees a 2-week case-preparation turnaround once evidence collection is complete, compared with 4 weeks to 3 months at traditional firms. Alma's infrastructure is SOC 2 Type II compliant, with end-to-end encryption, role-based access, and audit-ready logs. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. These figures are Alma's own and sit separate from the Cerebral Valley interview.
Results Founders Describe After Working With Alma
Marat described founders at every funding stage, from heavily funded to modestly funded, whose O-1 cases Alma built into compelling applications. She also described clients who doubted they would qualify for an O-1 or a green card and were amazed by the outcome. Before working with Alma, founders often treat immigration as a distraction from building product, selling, and fundraising. Alma handles the work end to end, with attorneys owning strategy, so founders can stay focused on growing their companies. Marat said many clients share their excitement about the process before their cases are even approved.
Independent data from Lawfully, a third-party immigration case-data application, adds a verified view for O-1 cases. Lawfully verified 99 O-1 cases prepared and filed by Alma in 2026 and completed through May 2026. Alma's approval rate was 95%, which Lawfully reported as 11% higher than the national average for the same period. The firmwide 98%+ figure is Alma's own, and the Lawfully data is a separate, independently verified measure.
In Their Words
A client testimonial, published on Alma's own site, describes the experience from the client's side. It reflects how founders experience the O-1A process and points to a theme Marat returns to in the interview: attorneys who understand a client's achievements and present them clearly to USCIS, with a team that responds quickly and keeps the case moving from intake through filing.
"Their team is super responsive and really knows their stuff. They took my achievements and turned them into a killer application."
Temirulan Mussayev, O-1A client, Deep Infra Inc.
Why Alma Fits Founders, Technologists, and Growing Companies
Marat is a Harvard Law graduate who worked as an attorney at Cooley and as a management consultant at McKinsey before founding Alma with co-founders Assel Tuleubayeva and Shuo Chen, who share the immigrant experience. That background shapes a firm built for founders, technologists, and researchers pursuing an O-1A visa or EB-1A green card, and for companies hiring global talent through H-1B and other work visas. Alma's attorneys identify the strongest path for each case, and the platform keeps progress visible from intake to filing.
If you’re exploring your visa options, you can book a free consultation with an Alma attorney. For companies hiring global talent, our team is happy to walk you through how Alma can support your hiring plans.
Source: Alma is trying to make immigration not suck, Cerebral Valley, November 15, 2024.
