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About us
Built by people who got tired of watching it done badly
Northbound Global exists because too many candidates were being sold the course that paid the most commission, then discovering the visa arithmetic two years and a great deal of money later.
Our story
Sixteen years of doing the arithmetic first
We started in 2010 with two people and one method: build the shortlist backwards from where the candidate wants to be in three years, rather than forwards from whichever institution had the most attractive referral agreement that season.
It turned out to be a slower way to grow and a considerably better way to be recommended. Most of our caseload still arrives through people we advised years ago — including a fair number we originally told to wait.
Today the practice spans test preparation, admissions, skilled migration, residency planning and the ninety days after landing. What has not changed is the order: the honest assessment happens first, and it costs nothing.
12,400+
Candidates advised
16
Years of practice
94%
Approval rate
What we will not trade
Four principles, held even when they cost us
Each of these has lost us business. That is roughly the point of having them.
Disclosure by default
The commercial position on every recommendation — including whether an institution pays us — is put in writing before you apply. You should be able to weigh our advice knowing what is behind it.
Assessment before invoice
The first conversation is free and its job is to tell you the truth about your odds. A fee agreed before we know whether we can help you is a fee we have not earned.
No guarantees, ever
Admission and visa decisions belong to institutions and governments. Anyone promising an outcome is either misinformed or selling you something. We control the quality of the file — nothing more.
The plan outlives the visa
A visa nobody can build a life on is not a result. We plan to the point where you are settled and working, not to the point where we get paid.
Milestones
How the practice grew
- 2010
Two people and a shortlist method
Founded with a single conviction: the shortlist should be built from where you want to be in three years, not from who pays commission.
- 2013
Test preparation opens
Added coaching after too many otherwise strong candidates were held back by a single band in writing.
- 2016
Skilled migration practice
Extended past study into points-based routes, and started publishing our scoring arithmetic to candidates.
- 2019
Nine destinations mapped
Formalised destination playbooks so advice stopped depending on which adviser happened to pick up the phone.
- 2022
Post-landing programme
Launched ninety-day settlement support after tracking how many clients struggled after the visa, not before it.
- 2025
Fixed-fee refusal reviews
Opened independent refusal analysis to anyone, including cases originally prepared by other consultants.
The team
Who you would actually be working with
Fictional people, invented for this demo — but the roles reflect how a practice like this is genuinely staffed.
Reva Sundaresan
Founder & Principal Adviser
Spent eleven years inside university admissions before concluding that most candidates were being sold the wrong course by people paid to sell it. Founded Northbound to run the advice the other way round.
Permanent residency planning
Marcus Adeyemi
Head of Skilled Migration
Reads assessing-authority guidance for pleasure, which is exactly the personality defect this job requires. Has never lost a case to a formatting error and intends to keep it that way.
Points assessment & skills recognition
Hana Kobayashi
Director of Admissions
Built the three-tier shortlist method after watching too many candidates apply to five equally ambitious places and receive five rejections in the same fortnight.
Course shortlisting & funding
Elias Thornbury
Lead Trainer, Test Preparation
Former examiner. Believes almost nobody fails an English test on English — they fail on not knowing which descriptor they are missing, which is a solvable problem.
IELTS, PTE & speaking craft
Nadia Farouk
Case Manager, Settlement
Handles the first ninety days after arrival, on the grounds that a visa nobody can build a life on is not much of a result. Keeps playbooks for all nine destinations.
Post-landing & family cases
Tomas Ilves
Compliance & Quality
Reviews every file before lodgement and every refusal afterwards. The second job is what makes him good at the first one.
File review & refusal analysis
Free · 20 minutes · No obligation
Find out what you actually qualify for
Bring your grades, your budget and your timeline. You will leave the call with a scored read on your realistic options — including, when it applies, the news that the plan does not work yet.
Call an adviser
+91 90000 00000
Email the team
hello@northbound.example
Placeholder contact details — this is a demonstration site for a fictional company.