Immigration and relocation firm website cost in San Francisco: local agencies vs Kolonell (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

In San Francisco, an immigration and relocation firm website handed to a Bay Area agency costs, as a 2026 ballpark, 18 000 to 70 000 USD, one of the most expensive markets in the United States. Kolonell builds the offer aimed at HR and global mobility teams at tech companies, settling-in guides by area of the Bay and the proposal request for a fixed price of 2 900, 4 900 or 8 900 USD. Before signing, compare the 36-month cost and how each provider answers the security and data questions your HR clients will ask you.

What price range should you expect in San Francisco?

Prudent ballparks, drawn from public rate cards of Bay Area agencies, minimum project sizes visible on Clutch.co, hourly rates published by San Francisco and Oakland studios (often 150 to 250 USD per hour) and rates shown on Upwork. Agencies that work for tech companies often apply their enterprise rates even to a small services site.

Kolonell does not travel and does not shoot. Your project manager holds Google Meet calls at your hour and sends a written update every week; the team is in Senegal (GMT), 7 to 8 hours ahead of California depending on the season. The domain stays in your name and all access is handed over. Payment by bank transfer or Wise, 50 % to start, 50 % at delivery. See the international offer.

Where does the money go over 36 months?

Kolonell maintenance after the support period is quoted on request, so we use the same assumption on both sides to compare fairly.

Most of the gap comes from the build. If an agency offers a package that includes copy, photos and a year of changes, recalculate on the same scope before deciding.

What do Bay Area employers and transferees look for?

Your buyer is often a global mobility lead or HR partner at a tech company in SoMa, Mountain View or Palo Alto, managing intra-company transfers (L-1 type petitions), H-1B hires and sometimes founders or researchers on O-1 type petitions. Biotech companies in South San Francisco, along with Stanford, UCSF and Berkeley, add researchers, postdocs and families on J-1 status. The transferee then reads your guides from Bangalore, London or Seoul: housing costs, commute to campus, school enrollment, California driver's license.

That HR reader compares three vendors. They want to see on one page: scope (housing, schools, settling in, departure), process, your team's response times (never the government's), your geographic coverage and how you protect employee data. They will often send you a vendor security questionnaire: the site needs a clear privacy page and must never claim a certification you do not hold.

What should the site say about who does what?

Two trades coexist and the site has to separate them. Immigration advice, meaning assessing eligibility, choosing the visa category, preparing and filing petitions, belongs to attorneys and to representatives accredited by the Department of Justice within recognized organizations. Destination services (home search, schools, settling in, spouse support, departure) involve no legal advice. Many relocation firms work with a partner law firm: name it and describe the split.

California closely regulates non-attorney 'immigration consultants', who may not give legal advice: do not use that title without checking, and avoid any term that suggests attorney status, such as 'notario' in Spanish. For a law firm, the State Bar of California advertising rules apply. No promise of a visa, a green card or a timeline. Depending on your thresholds, the CCPA as amended by the CPRA may apply; the ADA and WCAG 2.1 AA serve as the accessibility reference. This is not legal advice.

Which questions should you ask before signing?

• Who writes the service pages and who reviews the wording on the partner attorney's role?
• Does the form collect the bare minimum (name, company, assignment type, origin city)?
• Where are files hosted and who holds the hosting and domain accounts?
• What does an hour of changes cost after launch, and is it quoted beforehand?
• Does the agency offer a portal without spelling out security, hosting and annual cost?

Mini case study

Illustrative example. Mei L. runs a twelve-consultant destination services company in San Francisco; her clients are mainly the HR teams of six tech companies, and a partner law firm handles the visa side. A Bay Area agency quotes 38 000 USD in 14 weeks for a site with an HR area. Kolonell proposes Growth at 4 900 USD, with an HR page, a privacy page and six guides.

Build: 38 000 USD versus 4 900 USD, a 33 100 USD gap. With the same maintenance assumption (7 260 USD on each side), the 3-year total is 45 260 USD versus 12 160 USD. Mei books a local photographer for portraits and asks for a separate quote on an assignment tracking portal.

FAQ

Why are San Francisco agencies so expensive?

Bay Area hourly rates often sit around 150 to 250 USD, and a services site quickly passes 18 000 USD there. Kolonell applies the same fixed price everywhere: 2 900, 4 900 or 8 900 USD.

Can you help answer an HR client's security questionnaire?

We document hosting, access and data collection for the delivered site. Your own company's commitments (certifications, subprocessors) remain yours; the security page is included on Premium at 8 900 USD.

Can the site handle several Asian languages?

We write native English and French. Mandarin, Japanese or Hindi are supplied by you or quoted separately, often 1 000 to 2 000 USD per language for a few summary pages.

How long until launch?

3 to 4 weeks on Starter and Growth; on Premium, a written schedule at kickoff, usually 4 to 6 weeks.

What does support cover?

3 months of fixes and assistance after launch, 6 months on Premium; after that, maintenance is quoted on request.

Let's scope your project. Send us your assignment types, your target HR clients and the role of your partner attorney, and we come back with a fixed-price tier delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. Request your free quote or see the international offer.