Draft Response To Request For Evidence

---
name: draft-uscis-rfe-response
task_id: immigration/draft-response-to-request-for-evidence
description: Draft a response package to a USCIS request for evidence for an H-1B specialty occupation petition. Separate the public-facing response from any privileged internal memorandum, organize the response by each issue raised in the request, and keep the analysis focused on evidence, procedure, and case-specific gaps without blending audiences.
activates_for: [planner, solver, checker]
---

# Skill: Draft USCIS RFE Response Package

## 1. Subject-matter triage

- Confirm the filing is an H-1B specialty occupation RFE response, not an amendment, withdrawal, premium-processing request, or motion.
- Read the notice first and extract every distinct request, deadline, identifier, and warning about late or incomplete submission.
- Separate the work product at the outset into two documents: a public-facing response letter for USCIS and a privileged strategic memo for counsel/client.
- If the notice raises multiple issues, enumerate them before drafting and preserve the same order in the response.

## 2. Failure modes the skill is correcting

- The response omits a separate section for each RFE ground, forcing the adjudicator to search for the answer.
- The filing lacks the receipt information, beneficiary identifier, or other case-matching details needed to associate the submission with the pending petition.
- The draft responds only with argument and does not tie each issue to actual exhibits, records, or employer documents.
- The draft treats a challenged credential evaluation as if repetition of the original opinion cures the defect, instead of addressing the stated deficiency directly.
- The internal memo is missing, mixes in public-facing language, or fails to assess risk, alternative paths, and litigation/filing consequences.
- The response uses conclusory assertions about specialty occupation status without naming the controlling immigration framework for each proposition.
- The draft does not respect the distinct audiences: the agency should receive only the response package; privileged analysis belongs in the memo.
- The response is not built to survive deadline pressure, leaving unclear what is being filed now versus what remains for later supplementation.

## 3. Legal frameworks / domain conventions that apply

- An RFE response must be timely filed before the stated deadline; late filing generally risks denial under USCIS adjudicatory practice governing requests for evidence.
- The response should identify the petition by the receipt number, filing type, beneficiary name, and any alien registration number if one exists, so USCIS can match the submission to the correct case.
- A represented petitioner should file through counsel of record or through the proper appearance/representation mechanism, with a complete attorney signature block and contact information.
- Specialty occupation analysis should be anchored in Immigration and Nationality Act § 214(i) and the implementing H-1B regulations at 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h), including the statutory and regulatory criteria for specialty occupation classification.
- Where the RFE questions the occupation, duties, or minimum educational requirements, the response should analyze the challenged criterion one by one using the employer’s position description, organizational evidence, industry practice, and educational norm evidence as appropriate.
- Where the RFE challenges an expert or credential evaluation, the safer course is often a supplemental or replacement evaluation that answers the agency’s stated concern directly, rather than a defense of an opinion the agency already found incomplete.
- The strategic memo is attorney-client privileged and should evaluate approval likelihood, evidentiary gaps, fallback options, and the practical effect of filing or not filing a response.
- If any proposition depends on a specific legal rule, cite the governing authority by name and section rather than stating the conclusion bare.

## 4. Analytical scaffolds

1. Parse the notice into a numbered list of issues, deadlines, and document demands before drafting any prose.
2. Build the response letter issue-by-issue, using the notice’s sequence and headings that track the agency’s phrasing.
3. For each issue, identify: what USCIS says is missing, what the current record already shows, and what additional evidence or explanation will fill the gap.
4. If there is more than one challenged criterion or alternative basis, analyze each separately rather than collapsing them into a single general defense.
5. If a prior evaluation is attacked, decide whether the record is better served by supplementation, replacement, or a different evidentiary theory, and explain that choice in the memo.
6. Make the letter self-contained for USCIS: include identifiers, a clean narrative, exhibit references, and a signature block that can be filed.
7. Make the memo candid: state what is strong, what is weak, what is missing, and what the client should do if the response is denied or if additional evidence cannot be gathered in time.
8. Anchor every legal conclusion to the relevant statute, regulation, or recognized authority; do not rely on shorthand labels alone.

## 5. Vertical / structural / temporal relationships

- Preserve the procedural order: notice first, evidence assembly second, drafting third, filing final.
- Keep the public response and privileged memo separate throughout; do not reuse privileged phrasing in the filing unless it is suitable for submission to USCIS.
- When the notice contains multiple issue types, maintain a one-to-one mapping between issue, argument, and exhibit set.
- Treat the deadline as a hard external constraint and account for what can realistically be gathered before filing versus what belongs in follow-up strategy.
- If an exhibit depends on another document for context, reference that relationship explicitly so the filing does not read as disconnected fragments.

## 6. Output structure conventions

- Produce two distinct deliverables: a USCIS response letter and a separate strategic memo labeled as attorney-client privileged.
- The response letter should include a heading with the petition identifiers, a short introduction, a separate section for each RFE issue, a focused evidentiary response under each section, an exhibit list, and a complete attorney signature block if counsel is filing.
- The response letter should read as a filing-ready submission, not as commentary about how to draft one.
- The strategic memo should include: request summary, evidence assessment by issue, approval-risk analysis, recommended next steps, and fallback options if the response is unsuccessful.
- Use conventional immigration drafting language and avoid blending the agency-facing record with internal risk analysis.
- If the record contains multiple possible theories, note the primary theory in the letter and preserve secondary theories for the memo unless they are necessary to support the filing.
- Before finalizing, confirm both deliverables are complete, internally consistent, and tailored to the specific RFE grounds and petition record.