What happens to case data if you cancel immigration software?

When a firm cancels immigration case management software, it typically loses access to the live platform at the end of the billing period and must export all case data, documents, and records before that date. Data ownership generally remains with the firm, but the ability to retrieve data after cancellation depends on the vendor's specific retention and deletion policies.

Standard industry practice gives firms a window (commonly 30 days) to export their data before the account is fully deactivated. After that window closes, the vendor may delete the data or archive it on backup systems for an additional period to satisfy legal, regulatory, or tax retention requirements.

Some vendors charge a fee to export your database. Things can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. eimmigration provides customers with a complete export of their database at no charge upon request.

Inactive accounts are typically flagged after 12 months and may face data deletion after 24 months of inactivity. The critical risk is failing to export before cancellation, because service suspension for non-payment may prevent data access entirely. Firms should plan the export step before initiating cancellation and verify that the exported data includes not just client records and documents but also case notes, workflow history, audit logs, and communication threads, since these elements are often harder to reconstruct from government records alone. It is worth asking the vendor specific questions before signing: how long data remains accessible after cancellation, what format the export takes (structured database export vs. flat file download), whether audit trail history is included in the export, and whether the vendor offers any post-cancellation data retrieval for an additional fee.