Project
Software-development
Visaflow University CMS
Custom CMS backend for German universities to provide valuable visa related information to students
Year
2025
Team
Shakti Shrivastava, Aashwin Shrivastava
Tech-Stack
React.js, HTML, SCSS, MongoDB
Location
Germany
Published on: 15. August 2025
How We Built the Backend CMS Powering Visaflow’s Student Visa Platform
Germany is one of the top destinations for international students, offering high-quality education, affordable tuition, and strong post-graduation opportunities.
But there’s one hurdle that almost every student faces: navigating the visa application process. Requirements differ by university, documents can be hard to find, and deadlines aren’t always clear.
That’s where Visaflow comes in — a platform designed to make the German student visa process simple, transparent, and accessible.
And behind Visaflow’s user-friendly student portal, there’s a powerful backend Content Management System (CMS) — designed and built by iiterate Technologies — that allows universities to directly manage and update their visa-related information.
Why Visaflow Needed a Custom CMS
Visaflow’s mission is to give students accurate, up-to-date visa guidance straight from the universities themselves. But with dozens of institutions onboard, each with unique requirements, manual updates by a central team would never scale.
Instead, universities needed:
Their own secure dashboard
The ability to edit program-specific requirements instantly
Tools to upload official documents
Real-time publishing to the student-facing platform
That’s exactly what our backend CMS was built to deliver.
How the CMS Fits Into the Visaflow Platform
Visaflow handles the student-facing experience — from search and discovery to guidance and checklists.
Our CMS is the control panel for universities, giving them the tools to:
Update visa requirements per program
Upload document templates like affidavits or bank statements
Set deadlines, language prerequisites, and required proofs
Localize content
Preview how students will see their content
The Tech Behind the CMS
To make the system secure, scalable, and intuitive for non-technical users, we chose:
Backend: Node.js
Database: Xata
Auth: JWT
Admin UI: React + TailwindCSS
Storage: Xata stores files natively
Key Features We Built
1. Multi-Tenant University Dashboards: Each university has its own secure dashboard, with access restricted to its own programs and content also a superadmin dashboard for VisaFlow to manage access and content changes for the universities
2. Change Logs: VisaFlow admin gets notified which university made changes to their content.
3. Real-Time Student Updates: Changes made in the CMS sync instantly with Visaflow’s student portal.
Security & Compliance
Handling sensitive institutional content means security was non-negotiable:
Data encryption in transit and at rest
Built for Non-Technical Users
Since most university staff aren’t developers, we focused on usability:
Simple, clean interface
Inline guidance
“Preview as Student” mode
Looking Ahead
Future plans for the CMS include:
AI-powered content checks for outdated information
Bulk editing tools for large universities
API integrations with university databases
Automated document verification
Working with Visaflow gave us the opportunity to design a system that connects two worlds — university administration and student needs.
By giving institutions direct control over their visa-related content, the CMS we built at iiterate helps Visaflow keep information accurate, relevant, and instantly available to students preparing for their studies in Germany.
And that’s a win for everyone.
