People trust e-Passage with some of the most sensitive information in their lives: their nationality, their family, their plans, and sometimes their immigration status. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who processes it for us, how long we keep it, and how you can use your rights, mostly yourself, in the app.
MyTechOps Ltd, trading as e-Passage (“e-Passage”, “we”, “us”) is responsible for your personal information under this policy. We aim to meet the requirements of Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, where they apply to you, the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and other privacy laws.
1.The short version#
- We collect what we need to run e-Passage for you, and nothing for advertising.
- We never sell your personal information.
- We share your profile with a legal advisor or anyone else only when you choose to.
- We don’t share your information with any government authority voluntarily.
- Your profile details and documents are encrypted with a key that belongs to your account.
- Analytics run only if you say yes, and you can change your mind at any time.
- AI features send information to our AI provider only when you use them, and only what that feature needs.
- You can download everything we hold about you, pause your account, or delete it, at any time in Settings.
2.Who is responsible for your information#
The controller of your personal information is MyTechOps Ltd, trading as e-Passage. You can reach us about privacy at [email protected].
Our privacy officer can be reached at [email protected]. Where the law requires us to appoint a representative in the EU or UK, we’ll list their details here.
When you share your profile with a legal advisor, that advisor becomes responsible for how they use it, under their own professional duties. Stripe is responsible for card payment data it collects directly from you when you pay for an e-Passage plan or purchase.
3.Information we collect#
Information you give us
- Account details: your name, email address and preferred language. We don’t use passwords. You sign in with a one-time code we email you, or with Google.
- Your goals and profile: what you tell us about your plans, such as nationality, country of residence, destinations, purposes and timeframe, and as you build your profile, details such as your passport details (name as printed, passport number, issue and expiry dates, place of birth), phone number, national ID number, other names and nationalities, address history, education, work history, language test results, finances (including gifts and gift letters), trips abroad, travel plans, family members, references and contacts, and social media usernames if you add them. The same applies to any sandbox (“what if”) profiles you create.
- Sensitive information: some of what you tell us may be especially sensitive, such as your immigration status or history, visas you have held, previous refusals, removals, bans or overstays, answers to background questions (such as criminal convictions, military service or health), or information about your health or background where an application asks for it. We collect it only when you choose to provide it, and use it only to provide the Service to you.
- Information about other people: if you add family members or dependants, you give us information about them. Please make sure you have their permission, or are their parent or legal guardian.
- Documents: files you upload, such as a passport copy, bank statements or a CV, and the details read from them when you ask.
- Applications: for each application you prepare, your checklist, the form answers you change, trip details and the cover letter or itinerary drafts.
- Activity in the app: countries you follow, places you rate or mark as visited, share links you create, requests you send to legal advisors and the messages in them, and advice requests.
- Legal advisor applications: if you apply to join as a legal advisor, your contact details, licence details, regulator, practice areas, languages, availability and the declarations you make.
- Messages: what you send us when you contact us.
Information from sign-in providers
If you sign in with Google, Google sends us your name, email address and profile picture, and sign-in tokens that let us confirm your identity. We don’t get access to your Gmail, contacts or files.
Information collected automatically
- Session records: when you sign in, we record the time, your IP address and your browser type with the session, so we can keep your account secure and you can see where you’re signed in.
- Last active: the last time you used the app while signed in.
- Security and abuse prevention: elsewhere, for example when limiting repeated form submissions, we store your IP address only as a salted one-way hash, which can’t be turned back into the address.
- Audit log: we record security-relevant events, such as turning on two-step verification, exporting your data, or someone opening a profile you shared.
- Analytics, only if you agree: see Analytics and your consent.
- Server logs: our hosting provider keeps standard technical logs for a short period for security and troubleshooting.
We don’t use advertising cookies. See our Cookie Policy.
4.Why we use it, and our legal bases#
Under PIPEDA, we rely on your consent, which you give when you sign up and when you choose to provide or share information. Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, each purpose has one of these legal bases:
- To provide the Service you signed up for (contract): your account and sign-in, comparing your profile with published requirements and showing pathways, estimates, scores and missing items, filling forms, preparing applications, saving your documents, follows, ratings and alerts, and service emails such as sign-in codes.
- Sensitive information you choose to give us (explicit consent): used only to provide the features you use. You can remove it from your profile at any time.
- Sharing with a legal advisor or anyone else you choose (explicit consent): only when you create a share link or choose an advisor. You can revoke a link at any time.
- AI features (contract, and explicit consent for any sensitive information in what you send): only when you use the feature. See AI features.
- Paid plans and payments (contract, and legal obligation for tax and accounting records).
- Analytics (consent): visit counts and “online now”, only after you agree.
- Security, abuse prevention and the audit log (legitimate interests: keeping your account and the Service safe, and being able to show what happened).
- Reviewing legal advisor applications (legitimate interests, and steps before a contract with the advisor).
- Product update emails (consent): only if you opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time.
- Keeping records the law requires, and answering legal requests (legal obligation).
- Improving the Service (legitimate interests), using information that is aggregated or de-identified wherever possible.
You can withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits. Withdrawing doesn’t affect what we did before, although some features may then stop working.
5.Analytics and your consent#
The first time you visit, we ask whether you agree to analytics. Nothing is recorded for analytics until you say yes. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, we treat that as “no” unless you later opt in yourself.
If you agree, we record:
- a random visitor id kept in your browser’s storage (not a cookie, and not linked to your device or IP address);
- the first page of each visit, the site you came from (its domain only) and your country, as worked out by our hosting provider from your connection (we don’t store the IP address);
- which page you’re on while a tab is open, to show staff how many people are online now;
- your account, if you’re signed in.
We also use PostHog (EU hosting) to see which features are used: pages viewed (with ids and country names removed), actions such as starting a checkout, your plan type and your account id. It never receives your name, email, IP address, documents, answers or the countries you look at.
We keep a record of each choice you make (what you chose, when, and which version of the notice you saw), so we can show your consent. You can change your choice at any time with the “Privacy choices” link at the bottom of every page and in the app menu.
6.AI features#
In short: AI features use Claude, a model provided by Anthropic. We send information to Anthropic only when you use a feature, and only what that feature needs.
- Application drafts. When you click “Draft with AI” in an application, we send the details needed to write that document: your name, nationality, highest qualification and field, work history (job titles, years and countries), any job offer or school admission, the funds you’ve recorded, the pathway and country, and any notes you type. The draft is saved to your account so you can edit or delete it.
- Filling your profile from a document. When you upload a CV or other document, paste text, or give us a link to a public page (such as an online CV), we send its content to Anthropic to propose additions. Nothing is added until you tick items and confirm.
- Passport reading. When you upload a passport copy (or click “Read details”), we send the image so the data page can be read: names, passport number, nationality, date and place of birth, sex, and issue and expiry dates. You check the result before it is saved.
- Bank statement reviews. When you click “Review” on a statement, we send it so the bank, account holder, currency, closing balance and statement period can be read and compared with your profile.
- Social media check. When you run it, we send the profile text you paste or the screenshot you upload, plus a summary of your e-Passage profile (name, nationality, where you live, relationship status, work, education and trip) to compare them. We never sign in to your social media accounts.
- Travel suggestions (subscribers, when you ask): see AI travel suggestions.
- Cost estimates. We send only the countries involved, how many adults and children are travelling, the length of a visit and the pathway’s official fees, never anything that identifies you.
- Visa lookups and research. When our own research doesn’t cover a destination, we send only the two countries involved. Our research tools that check pathways, scholarships and places use only public sources and no personal information.
Anthropic processes this information on our behalf and, under its commercial terms, does not use it to train its models. AI output can be wrong: check it before you rely on it.
7.AI travel suggestions#
Subscribers can ask for optional suggestions of places to visit and things to do at a destination. If you never request suggestions, none of your information is sent for them. When you do, we send only:
- the destination country;
- the purpose of your trip;
- any interests you choose to add;
- your age band (not your date of birth); and
- whether a partner or children are travelling with you.
We do not send your name, email address, nationality, immigration status, documents or any other profile details. Suggestions are saved to your account for 12 months. They may be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date: check opening times, safety advice and entry rules with official sources before you travel.
8.Scores and automated decisions#
e-Passage calculates scores, matches and estimates from your profile and published rules to help you plan. They are information only: they don’t decide anything about you, and no decision with legal or similarly significant effects is made by automated means. Governments make immigration and visa decisions under their own rules. If you think a score is wrong, correct your profile or contact us.
10.International transfers#
Our service providers may store and process information outside your country, including in the United States. Information held in another country may be accessible to that country’s courts and authorities under its laws.
When we transfer information from the EU, UK or Switzerland, we rely on an adequacy decision where one exists (for example for Canada, or for US companies certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its UK and Swiss extensions), and otherwise on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses (with the UK addendum), together with the encryption described below. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards.
11.How long we keep it#
- Account, profiles, documents and applications: until you delete them or your account.
- Sign-in codes: stored hashed and expire after 10 minutes.
- Session records: while the session is active (up to 7 days without use), and deleted with your account.
- Analytics visits: 13 months. PostHog events: 13 months. “Online now” records: 2 days.
- Notifications: 12 months. AI travel suggestions: 12 months.
- Share links and their access history: 24 months after the link expires.
- Consent records: kept as proof of the choices made, for as long as we may need to show them. When you delete your account they are kept without your account.
- Audit log: kept for security and accountability. When you delete your account, your name, email and account id are replaced with a code that can’t be traced back to you.
- Payments: Stripe keeps payment and invoice records for as long as tax and accounting laws require. Our own record of your plan is deleted with your account.
- Legal advisor applications: for the review and any resulting relationship, plus any period the law requires.
- Backups: deleted information may remain in encrypted backups for a limited period before it is overwritten. When you delete your account we also destroy your account’s encryption key, so backup copies of your profile and documents can no longer be read.
When you delete your account
We delete your account, profiles, dependants, documents, applications, share links, follows, ratings, notifications, AI suggestions, requests to legal advisors and advice requests with their messages, and we cancel any paid plan straight away. We keep, without your name, email or account id: the audit log, anonymous visit counts and consent records. Stripe keeps its payment records, and an unpaid invoice stays with Stripe until it is settled. If you are also a legal advisor with clients, your advisor listing is removed and your contact details cleared, but the record of your past engagements stays so your clients keep theirs. Links other people sent to your email stop working but stay in their own history, including when you opened them.
12.How we protect it#
- Encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest.
- Your profile answers (such as passport details, family, travel history, background answers and immigration status) and the files you upload are encrypted with a key that belongs to your account alone, before they are stored. That key is kept separately from our database and is itself protected by a master key in a key management service.
- Passwordless sign-in, so there are no passwords to steal, and optional two-step verification with an authenticator app (required for our staff).
- Sign-in codes stored hashed; two-step verification secrets and backup codes stored encrypted.
- IP addresses stored as salted one-way hashes outside of session records.
- Our staff don’t have routine access to production data; access is limited to named people for security or legal reasons and is logged. Whenever someone other than you opens your profile, or you export it, it’s listed in Settings.
- Rate limiting to protect against abuse.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information and creates a real risk of significant harm, we’ll notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
13.Your rights and how to use them#
Depending on where you live, you have these rights. Most you can use yourself, straight away, in the app:
- Access and portability: Settings → Download my data gives you a JSON file of everything we hold about you, with a guide inside, and a link to download each of your documents.
- Correction (rectification): edit your profile on the Profile pages, and your name in Settings. To change your email address, contact us.
- Erasure: Settings → Delete my account. We email you a confirmation link first, so no one else can delete it. You can also delete single documents, sandbox profiles and dependants, and revoke share links, at any time.
- Restriction: Settings → Hibernate account pauses your account: no emails or alerts, share links stop working and billing pauses, until you wake it.
- Objection: you can object to processing based on our legitimate interests by contacting us. Turn off email alerts for a country on the Following page, and use sensitive mode in Settings for discreet emails and fewer notifications.
- Withdrawing consent: change your analytics choice with “Privacy choices”, revoke share links in Sharing, remove sensitive information from your profile, and unsubscribe from product update emails if you opted in.
- Seeing who opened your data: Settings lists every time someone other than you opened your profile, and Sharing shows every use of your links.
For anything else, email [email protected]. We’ll respond within one month (30 days under PIPEDA), or tell you if we need longer and why, and may need to confirm your identity first. It’s free unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.
14.How to complain#
We’d appreciate the chance to address your concern first: email [email protected]. You can also complain to a data protection authority at any time:
- in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada;
- in the EU or EEA, the data protection authority where you live or work, or where you think the problem happened;
- in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
15.Sensitive mode#
If you’re in a sensitive situation, for example if you need help with your current immigration status, you can turn on sensitive mode in settings. It makes our email subjects discreet, turns off marketing, and reduces notifications. Information about your status is used only to support you in the product and is never shared voluntarily with any authority, as set out in our Transparency Policy.
16.Children#
e-Passage is not for children under 16, and you must be 18 or older to create an account. We don’t knowingly collect personal information directly from children. A parent or legal guardian may add information about their child to their own account, for example as a dependant on a Family plan, and is responsible for that information. If you think a child has given us information without their parent’s or guardian’s consent, contact [email protected] and we’ll delete it.
18.Changes to this policy#
We’ll update this policy as e-Passage changes, and change the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we’ll tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect, and ask for your consent where the law requires.
19.Contact#
Privacy questions and requests: [email protected].
Our privacy officer can be reached at [email protected]. The controller is MyTechOps Ltd, trading as e-Passage.