A mentorship built by people who wished it had existed for them.
GradMig began in a Dhaka café in 2019, over a conversation between three PhD students home for the summer. The question was simple: what would have made our own journey less terrifying?
Our story
For years, students from Bangladesh applying abroad had two options: pay a large agency for a checklist, or piece together advice from strangers on the internet. Neither knew what your life actually looked like.
We built GradMig so a first-generation applicant in Sylhet could sit across a video call from a PhD scholar who had once been exactly where they are — same anxieties, same family conversations, same visa forms.
Every advisor on our team volunteered because they remember how alone the journey felt. That is still our filter for who we work with.
Lived, not lectured
Every advisor has personally applied, been rejected, been accepted, arrived, adjusted — and remembers all of it.
Mentor over middleman
We take no university commissions. Our loyalty is to the student in front of us.
Bangladesh at heart
We understand joint families, currency conversion anxiety, and what it means to be the first in your family to leave.
Long horizons
We stay in touch through graduation, first jobs and PR — because a mentor never really finishes their job.
A quiet, careful growth.
2019
Founded in Dhaka by a group of returning PhD students.
2021
Cross the first 100 students placed across Canada and the UK.
2023
Immigration practice launched with regulated advisors.
2026
- 500+ students guided; 10 scholar-advisors across 3 countries.