PermCompass

A gamified, offline-capable Progressive Web App that helps Microsoft employees and friends navigate the green card journey — employer-sponsored (PERM) as the main track, with a companion primer on self-sponsored paths (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW).

Live site: https://aminuabdusalam.github.io/PermCompass/

Why

The green card process is opaque and overwhelming. Timelines vary by country, category, employer steps, government processing, and Visa Bulletin movement. PermCompass turns the process into a clearer path with learning, progress, and practical estimates.

What it does

• Interactive tracker with country-aware date estimates across the green card process.
• Gamified chapters with quizzes, XP, and levels.
• Offline-installable PWA that works from a phone or desktop browser.

Chapters

1. Employer-Sponsored Green Cards 101
2. Phase 1: PERM Assessment + JD
3. Phase 2: Skills Verification + PWD Request
4. Phase 3: PWD from DOL + Signed EVLs
5. Phase 4: Labor Market Test + PERM Prep
6. Phase 5: PERM Filing
7. Phase 6: I-140 Immigrant Petition
8. Phase 7: Priority Date Wait + The Visa Bulletin
9. Phase 8: I-485 or Consular Processing
10. Phase 9: Green Card Issued
11. After the Green Card: Life as an LPR
12. Self-Sponsored Green Cards: EB-1A and EB-2 NIW

Each chapter has structured content and a quiz. Correct answers earn XP, and XP raises your level through the PermCompass tiers.

Self-sponsorship readiness assessment (AI-powered)

An optional "Assess" tab runs an AI-powered readiness check against the EB-1A and EB-2 NIW rubric. The user pastes in their background, endeavor, and achievements; the app returns a structured verdict (Ready EB-1A / Ready NIW / Closable gaps / Structural gaps) with per-gate green/yellow/red, EB-1A criterion matches with evidence quotes, top gap-closers, and caveats.

The AI call is proxied through a tiny Cloudflare Worker so your Azure OpenAI key stays server-side. See worker/SETUP.md for the 5-minute deploy walkthrough. Until the Worker is deployed and its URL is pasted into assessment.js, the Assess tab shows a setup notice instead of failing at request time.

Tech

Piece	What it does
Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS	Entire UI. No framework, no build step, no npm.
data.js	Static arrays for phases, countries, waits, chapters, quizzes, and levels.
manifest.json	PWA manifest. Installable, standalone display, inline SVG icon.
sw.js	Service worker. Cache-first with index.html offline fallback.
localStorage	Persists XP, level, chapter progress, quiz scores, and tracker setup per browser.

No backend, no accounts, no analytics. Progress lives in the user's browser via localStorage, so it survives refreshes but is per-device.

Disclaimer

Educational only, not legal advice. Consult your immigration attorney. Priority date estimates are based on mid-2026 Visa Bulletin trends and change monthly - always check the current Visa Bulletin at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html for real numbers.

Run locally

Anything that serves the folder over HTTP works. Two easy options:

# Python
python -m http.server 5173

# Node (npx)
npx serve .

Then open http://localhost:5173. Opening index.html directly via file:// will not work because service workers require an HTTP origin.

Deploy

The site is hosted on GitHub Pages from the main branch. Any push to main republishes. Because Pages serves the app under the /PermCompass/ sub-path, all asset paths in sw.js and manifest.json are relative (./), not absolute (/).

License

MIT. See LICENSE.