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Is there a petition template, or do I write from scratch?

Key answer

There are no ready templates - only real petitions shared by members and structure outlines. A case is built from your own facts; you cannot reuse someone else's text. The community workflow: write it yourself following examples, then have experienced members or a specialist proofread it - fresh eyes catch the gaps.

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • There are no templates as such - there are petitions shared by people and a brief outline of the structure. This is what they use as guidance.

  • My plan: we gather and write everything ourselves using the knowledge base and chat, then I give it to an experienced participant for proofreading, and at the finish, we do mutual case checks among each other.

  • No, legally an attorney is not required - you can prepare and file the case yourself if you are ready to understand the criteria, forms, and evidence. Many in the community do this themselves. But the case must convincingly meet the criteria and (for O-1) have a petitioner-employer or agent, so complex situations should be reasonably discussed with an attorney.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Sources

All questions on: The petition and formattingAll questions on: Self-petition

Related on this site

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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