Priyanka Kulkarni, often referred to as “Priya” in headlines, is the founder and CEO of Casium, a legal-tech startup that uses artificial intelligence to streamline U.S. employment-based immigration.
A former machine-learning scientist at Microsoft, Kulkarni’s own nine-year journey through America’s visa maze shaped the central thesis of her venture: that immigration remains one of the last, unautomated bastions of HR.
Casium aims to change that — with AI agents, rapid document generation, and structured intake flows that compress visa preparation timelines from months to roughly ten business days.
Founded in April 2024, Casium has positioned itself as an AI-first alternative to the fragmented systems law firms and employers currently use for H-1B, O-1, TN and other employment visas.
Its product deploys AI agents that (a) assess eligibility using job data and résumés, (b) propose the correct visa route, and (c) generate the legal packet for review.
This combination, the company claims, slashes turnaround times while keeping attorney oversight intact.
Kulkarni argues that structured workflows, smart drafting, and compliance-aware design offer a clearer, faster path for both employers and skilled workers.
Within months of launch, Casium had paying customers, early media coverage, and backing from venture firms including Maverick Ventures and the AI2 Incubator in Seattle.
The company raised $5 million in seed funding, and by late 2025, had emerged as a high-profile entrant in a growing immigration-tech race.
Rivals such as Parley and Gale target other segments — law firms and direct-to-consumer filings respectively — but Casium’s wedge is employer-facing automation.
It sells primarily to People teams and in-house legal counsel at firms that routinely sponsor visas and want predictable case cycles.
October 2025 marked a breakout moment. Business Insider published a detailed profile, spotlighting Casium’s AI-agent system, 10-day preparation claims, and its plan to transform the way companies manage work visa processes.
A flurry of coverage followed in outlets such as LiveMint, Hindustan Times, Financial Express, and Storyboard18, which framed Kulkarni as a founder translating personal pain into product vision — tech-born empathy converted into scalable software.
A GeekWire feature from 2024 had earlier chronicled her move from Microsoft to startup founder, noting Casium’s unusually quick path to revenue and its tight focus on employer petitions.
Two forces make Casium timely. First, immigration policy in the U.S. is in flux, with fluctuating fees, backlogs and legal uncertainties prompting HR teams to seek stability.
Platforms that can track policy logic, produce compliant paperwork, and ensure audit trails are in high demand.
Second, AI is now mature enough to augment legal operations — especially in immigration, where the work is heavy on documents, deadlines and standardisation. Casium, like others in the space, rides both waves.
Still, questions remain. Regulatory compliance is critical: how Casium ensures data security, legal accuracy, and sufficient attorney involvement as AI handles more drafting will shape its credibility.
While the company asserts a high approval rate, details on review processes and risk management will be watched closely.
Similarly, its ability to integrate with HR systems and adapt to changing visa rules will determine whether it can scale sustainably.
Finally, the economic model — whether it can keep its 10-day promise at volume — will test whether automation really translates to efficiency.
At the centre of this story is a founder who blends technical expertise with lived experience.
Kulkarni spent over a decade at Microsoft in AI and ML, and her immersion in both the visa process and AI research lends Casium unusual legitimacy.
Her X (formerly Twitter) profile succinctly describes her as having “10+ years in AI at Microsoft,” and recent interviews consistently return to her journey through the U.S. immigration system as the spark for the company’s founding.
In many ways, Priyanka Kulkarni represents the emerging legal-tech founder archetype of 2025: deep-domain experience, technical fluency, and a determination to fix broken systems with AI — not as a gimmick, but as targeted workflow improvement.
If Casium can deliver sustained results, its model — agentic, auditable, and employer-facing — may help reset how U.S. work visas are handled, and offer a case study in what legal automation, done well, can achieve.
