What we keep about you

Your answers

Without an account, we use your answers to build your list. We do not save them. Your browser keeps a copy, and sends it to us with each search.

With an account, we save them so your list follows you to any phone. Change or clear them on What we know about you. Tap your name, or the Me tab on a phone. A change counts at once. Your citizenship and where you live can be changed there but not cleared, because every listing is judged against them. The same page shows the listings you asked for more like or marked not for you, which move similar ones up or down your list, the questions you skipped, and the documents you ticked, which are kept for Apply.

Signing in

You can sign in with Google, or with your email and a password. Either way we keep your email, your name, and your answers.

With Google, we never see your Google password. Google tells us your email and your name.

With a password, we keep a scrambled form of it, made with a random salt that is different for every person. We never keep the password itself, we cannot read it back, and we cannot email it to you. If you forget it, we send a link to choose a new one.

Signing up with an email sends you one link to confirm the address. It works once and lasts 24 hours. A link to choose a new password works once and lasts 1 hour. We keep only a scrambled form of each link, until it is used or expires and for a day after, so that if you open it late we can tell you what happened. Then it is deleted. Reminders and other mail go only to an address you have confirmed.

We also keep a scrambled form of the code in your sign-in cookie, so a copy of our records cannot be used to sign in as you. You can end every sign-in on every device from Sign-in and security.

Cookies

A cookie is a small note your browser keeps for us and sends back with each page. These are all of ours. Google's cookies, set only if you press Accept all, are under Google Analytics.

• qs keeps you signed in. It is set when you sign in and lasts 30 days from the last time you used the site, or until you sign out. Your browser is told to keep it away from page scripts, and to send it only over a secure connection.
• qt is a random code for this browser. It ties your saved listings and the listings you send us to this browser, so they stay yours. It is set the first time you use the finder, save a listing or send us one. It lasts a year, or until you sign out.
• qc says which version of our styles your browser already has, so pages load faster. It holds nothing about you. It lasts a year.
• qstate is set while you sign in with Google, so we know the reply is to your request. It lasts ten minutes.
• qnext is set at the same time, only when you were on your way to a page of ours, so we can take you back to it. It holds the name of that page and nothing else. It lasts ten minutes.
• qk is set only if the address you opened carries a test key. It holds that key for a day.
• qdev is set when you sign in with an email or a password. It says that this browser has signed in to your account, so that someone else guessing at your address cannot lock you out of it. It holds a signed copy of your account number and nothing else, and lasts 90 days from your last sign in or until you end every sign-in.
• qnote carries a short message from one page of the sign-in forms to the next: the address you typed (never a password), and the sentence to show. It lasts ten minutes.
• qwait is set when you sign up with an email, so the link in the email can sign this same browser in. It holds the address you typed and lasts a day.

What your browser keeps

These are kept in your browser's own storage, not in a cookie. The finder sends two of them to us with each search: your answers and your random code. We use them to build your list. Without an account, we do not save the answers. The rest are not sent to us.

• opp_profile is your answers in the finder, so your list comes back when you return.
• opp_seen is a single mark that you have seen your list, so the finder opens it straight away.
• opp_token is a copy of the random code in qt.
• qa-theme is light or dark, if you use the theme button.
• qa-still is whether you paused the moving parts on the home page.
• qa-consent is your answer on the cookie banner, yes or no, so we do not ask again.

Signing out clears opp_profile, opp_seen and opp_token on that phone. The theme and the pause choice stay until you clear this site's data in your browser's settings, which clears everything above.

Your CV

We read a CV once to fill in your answers, then drop it. It is never stored. The CV starter keeps nothing either.

What you do on the site

We record which listings are opened, saved and clicked through, to learn which ones work out for people. Signed in, your saved listings, stages and notes are on Apply, where you change them, and saved listings also move similar ones up your list. We also keep a daily count of what was open to you, for Grow, and what was open at your last visit, for This week. Clear both on What we know about you.

Our server also writes one short line each time a page is asked for. It holds the page, whether it worked, how long it took and a request number. It leaves out everything after the question mark in the address, your cookies and your internet address. We use it to find faults.

We also count visits, without a cookie. Each page adds one to a daily total. To count different visitors, we turn your internet address and browser details into a scrambled code. The key that scrambles it is random, new each day and held in memory only. The codes are held in memory too, for that day. Neither is ever written to our database or a backup. When the day ends they are gone and we keep only the number. A restart of the site in the middle of a day can count a person who comes back that day once more. We do not save the address or the details themselves. We leave out robots that say they are robots. The owner's page of numbers shows totals only, never a name or an email.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to see how many people use the site, which countries they come from, how they found us and which pages help them. We share these numbers, as totals, with organisations that may support the site. They never see a person.

It runs on every public page. Until you choose, it counts your visit without a cookie and keeps no ID for your browser. If you press Accept all, Google sets its cookies (their names start with _ga), so a return visit is counted as the same visitor, and Google may add rough age, interests and device from its own records. If you press Decline, it goes on counting visits without a cookie.

We never send Google your answers, your name or your email. It never runs on a password or email-confirmation link, or on the owner's pages. Google's own privacy policy covers what it does with the data: how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

To change your answer, use Cookie choices at the foot of any public page.

Did you apply, did you get it

A week or more after you press Go to application, we may ask whether you applied, and later whether you got it. We keep your answer, which listing and the day, with your account. We ask because the people who fund this site want to know whether listings lead anywhere. They see totals, never names. Tap Dismiss and we stop asking about that listing. Delete your answers any time from the account page, or by deleting your account.

Reminders

Off until you turn them on. Then we keep the channel you chose (email, or a Telegram chat number), what you follow, and what we sent for sixty days so nothing is sent twice. Stop them from the link in any message or on Reminders.

The weekly list needs no account. If you join it we keep your email address, the answers you chose to send (country, level, kinds of opportunity) and the week of the last note. We email you once to confirm, and nothing else is sent until you do. Every note has a link that stops it in one click, with no sign-in. Stopping erases your address and your answers at once; only a count with no name stays. A request you never confirm is deleted after 14 days. If you join the Telegram channel, Telegram holds that, not us; we see only how many people are in it.

If you send us an opportunity

We keep the link and what you tell us. An email address you give is used only to tell you whether it went up.

What we never do

• Ask you for money.
• Sell anything about you, or pass your details to anyone who pays to reach people. They see counts, never people.
• Show you adverts.

Deleting your account

Sign in and go to Delete my account. Your answers, email, name, password, sign-ins, notes and reminders go at once.

What stays. Anonymous counts of saves stay, with no link to you. A listing you sent us stays, with your email and the code that tied it to you taken off. If it was already live and checked, it stays live. If we had not checked it yet, it stays in our queue with no name on it. If you sent us a listing, we can no longer tell you what we decided. The anonymous record that some listings worked out for someone stays too.

If you are under 18

The site works from age 14, with or without an account. A listing that involves travel, living away or money says so, and says an adult you trust needs to be part of it.

Questions: hello@qualifyafrica.com