Privacy policy

Last updated: 19 October 2026

Who we are

Ascend Consultants is a Dutch business registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK 84001313, VAT NL003905269B20), at Mickey Mousestraat 57, 1336 ZG Almere, the Netherlands. We are responsible for the personal data described in this policy. Questions: [email protected].

What we collect and why

• When you contact us by email, WhatsApp or Instagram: your name, contact details and what you tell us. We use this to answer you. WhatsApp and Instagram are services of Meta, which processes those messages under its own privacy terms. Legal basis: steps you ask for before a contract.
• When you book a clarity session: your name, email, time zone, answers on the booking form and the booking itself. Booking runs on Cal.com. Legal basis: performing our contract with you.
• When you pay: payments are processed by Stripe. We receive your name, email, amount and payment status. We never see or store your full card details. Legal basis: contract and our legal duty to keep financial records.
• When you become a client: the documents and information needed for your plan, application or study file (for example passport details, CV, financial statements). Legal basis: performing our contract with you.
• When we prepare your session or file: we use an AI assistant (Claude, made by Anthropic) to help us summarise the information and documents you send us and to draft notes for our advisers. A person at Ascend always reviews this work and makes every decision. We never use AI to make decisions about you without human involvement. Legal basis: performing our contract with you, and our legitimate interest in preparing your case efficiently. You can ask us not to use AI on your file, and we will prepare it by hand.
• When you send a review: your name, route, rating and text. We publish a review only with your permission. Legal basis: your consent. You can ask us to remove a published review at any time by emailing us.
• When you visit the website: Cloudflare Web Analytics counts visits without cookies and without identifying you. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in knowing how the site is used. Our site sets no tracking cookies. Fonts are served from our own website, so your visit is not shared with font providers. Your language choice is stored only in your own browser.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data. We share it only where needed to deliver our services:

• Service providers that process data for us: Google Workspace (email), Cal.com (booking and video calls), Stripe (payments), Cloudflare (website hosting) and Anthropic (AI assistant, which processes the information we give it to produce summaries and drafts for us). If you message us on WhatsApp or Instagram, Meta also processes those messages.
• The independent accountant or independent lawyer working on your file, only with your agreement. They are responsible for their own processing.
• Schools, universities or authorities, only when you ask us to submit or prepare something for them.

Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area. Where they do, they use safeguards recognised under EU law, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

Use of AI

We use AI only to support our advisers, for example to summarise your intake form or check a document for missing information. AI output is a draft, never a final answer. We do not use AI to decide whether you are eligible for a permit, school or service. We share with it only what we need for your case, and we delete AI drafts according to the retention periods below.

How long we keep it

Enquiries that do not lead to a contract: up to 12 months. Client files: for as long as needed for your service, then up to 2 years for follow-up questions. Invoices and payment records: 7 years, as required by Dutch tax law.

Your rights

You can ask us to see, correct, delete or export your data, to limit its use, or object to its use. Email [email protected] and we will reply within one month. You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

Security

We keep client documents in secured business accounts with two-step sign-in, share them only with the people working on your file, and delete them at the end of the retention periods above.

Changes

We may update this policy. The date at the top shows the latest version.