Case management SLAs: what to promise a client and how to track it
Status stages, client-portal updates and the escalation path when a consulate stalls.
6 min · Immigration · Updated Apr 2026
The rule
A service level is a promise about your firm's response, not the consulate's decision. The ones clients notice: time to first reply, time to a complete checklist, time from complete documents to filing, and update cadence while the file is with the authority. Publish them and track them; unmeasured SLAs become arguments.
Reasonable defaults for a visa practice: reply within one business day, checklist within two, file within three business days of complete documents, an update at least weekly.
What the consulate or authority actually counts
- Timestamp of every client message and your reply
- Date documents were complete versus date filed
- Days since last update per open file
- Escalations and their outcome
- On-time rate against the guaranteed dates you quoted
Where it goes wrong
- Promising decision dates you do not control
- No owner for a file when the case officer is on leave
- Updates only when the client chases
- SLA measured from when you noticed, not from when the client wrote
How vistolane for business handles it
The case board shows SLA timers per file (details 72h, documents 48h, review 120h by default), unanswered messages over 24 hours and breaches on the KPI dashboard. Read receipts on messages and the timeline give the client the same view, which ends most disputes.
Your public scorecard shows on-time rate and typical reply time to prospective clients.