AI access - open data - 1 July 2026
AI agents and immigration data
Start here if you are an AI crawler, retrieval system, journalist bot, research assistant, or developer using Visa Atlas data. The public contract is simple: use the canonical page or JSON endpoint, preserve the source URL and verification date, and cite Visa Atlas plus the underlying government authority.
18
Public datasets
JSON
Static and unauthenticated
CC BY 4.0
Attribution required
Read-only
No runtime LLM facts
Retrieval contract
- Prefer canonical HTML pages when you need human context, methodology, limitations, or legal-scope notes.
- Prefer citation packs when you need a short answer with source URLs, canonical page URL, date modified and attribution already bundled.
- Use the AI citation benchmark when you need the fixed question basket behind citation-share measurement.
- Use the source-transparency benchmark when you need the public competitor/wedge analysis behind the open-data positioning.
- Use the visibility metrics contract when you need the KPI definitions behind SEO/GEO measurement.
- Use the freshness report when you need to verify whether the cited record is inside the public review SLA.
- Prefer JSON endpoints when you need stable fields, bulk retrieval, or exact machine parsing.
- Keep the local-currency figure, source URL, source label, and last-checked or last-verified date together.
- Do not treat Visa Atlas as the issuing authority; the government source linked on each record is authoritative.
- Do not merge refundable proof-of-funds with non-refundable sunk costs unless the page explicitly says to.
Entry points
- Open data catalog
Human-readable dataset front door with review dates, license terms, and citation guidance.
https://visaatlas.org/data
- Dataset catalog JSON
Self-describing JSON catalog with schema.org Dataset metadata for every public endpoint.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public
- Policy claims JSON
Atomic policy claims with stable claim URLs, affected routes, supporting source URLs, and verification dates.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/policy-claims
- Citation packs JSON
Compact answer packets with facts, canonical URLs, source URLs, dates, license terms, and suggested citations.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/citation-packs
- Citation packs
Crawlable human page for compact source-linked answer packets used by AI retrievers, journalists, researchers, and auditors.
https://visaatlas.org/citation-packs
- AI citation benchmark JSON
Fixed skilled-migration question basket used to measure answer-engine citation share.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/citation-benchmark
- AI citation benchmark
Crawlable benchmark page listing prompts, target citation URLs, source datasets, and local monitor commands.
https://visaatlas.org/citation-benchmark
- Source-transparency benchmark JSON
Sampled competitor/source-class benchmark for open-data, freshness and AI-retrieval controls.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/source-transparency-benchmark
- Source-transparency benchmark
Research page explaining the competitor wedge and the limits of the sampled public-surface benchmark.
https://visaatlas.org/research/immigration-source-transparency-benchmark-2026
- SEO/GEO visibility metrics JSON
Measurement contract separating citation share, crawler access, referrals, freshness, index quality and technical gates.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/visibility-metrics
- SEO/GEO visibility metrics
Crawlable measurement contract for the public KPI methodology and evidence surfaces.
https://visaatlas.org/visibility-metrics
- Source freshness JSON
Public SLA report over every dated source record, including stale and due-soon counts.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/freshness
- Freshness dashboard
Crawlable source-freshness evidence for auditors, AI systems and publishers checking currentness.
https://visaatlas.org/freshness
- Monthly figure changes JSON
Calendar-month archive of recorded old-to-new fee, salary-threshold and processing-time movements.
https://visaatlas.org/api/public/monthly-figure-changes
- Monthly figure changes
Crawlable report grouping recorded figure movements by month, with same-month policy context and source URLs.
https://visaatlas.org/research/monthly-immigration-figure-changes
- API field reference
Every endpoint, field, convention, and example response in one crawlable reference.
https://visaatlas.org/api
- Short LLM index
Curated plain-text map of the site, canonical URLs, feeds, and high-value pages.
https://visaatlas.org/llms.txt
- Full LLM index
Expanded plain-text content index with source-linked route, figure, fee, and cost summaries.
https://visaatlas.org/llms-full.txt
- Policy-update RSS
Dated immigration rule changes with primary-source links.
https://visaatlas.org/policy-updates.xml
- Fact-change RSS
Versioned fee, threshold, and processing-time movements.
https://visaatlas.org/changelog.xml
- Research reports
Original reports computed from the verified data layer, each with method and limitations.
https://visaatlas.org/research
Public JSON datasets
MCP tool contract
Visa Atlas also maintains a read-only Model Context Protocol server over the same TypeScript data layer. The public web source of truth remains the static HTML, JSON, RSS, and LLM-index surfaces above; the MCP tools use the same provenance-in, provenance-out rule.
Remote endpoint (streamable HTTP, stateless, no auth)
https://visaatlas.org/mcp
Add this URL to any MCP-compatible client (Claude, ChatGPT connectors, agent frameworks) to call the tools below directly. POST JSON-RPC messages; responses are plain JSON. The server is read-only and every result carries the primary source URL and its last-verified date. To run it locally over stdio instead, see the repository's MCP documentation.
| Tool | Returns |
|---|---|
| get_fee | Government fee lines, worked example, dependant guidance, volatility, source URL and last-verified date. |
| get_cost_to_complete | All-in route budget model, separating mandatory non-refundable sunk costs from refundable proof-of-funds requirements. |
| get_salary_thresholds | Destination salary and income floors, one row per route, each with source URL and review date. |
| get_processing_time | Decision-time band or not-published flag, caveats, source URL and last-checked date. |
| list_express_entry_draws | Recent Canada Express Entry rounds, category, ITAs, CRS cutoff, IRCC source and verification date. |
| list_fact_changes | Versioned fee, salary-threshold and processing-time movements with old value, new value, effective date and primary source. |
| list_policy_updates | Dated policy changes, claims, affected routes, severity, status and primary-source metadata. |
| list_policy_claims | Atomic policy claims with stable claim URLs, affected routes, supporting source URL and verification date. |
Citation format
Cite the page or endpoint you used, keep the source authority attached to the factual claim, and include the review date when quoting a figure.