pf-immigration-forms-assistant

v1.1 — Turn a 4–6 hour per-case USCIS form-filling process into a 30-minute workflow — included with your subscription.

Important: All documents generated by this plugin are drafts intended as starting points. Immigration forms and legal documents must be reviewed by a qualified immigration attorney before filing. This plugin does not provide legal advice. Immigration law changes frequently — always verify requirements with USCIS or qualified counsel.

Installation

1. Download the pf-immigration-forms-assistant.plugin file
2. Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Settings > Plugins
3. Click Install Plugin and select the downloaded .plugin file
4. The plugin will be installed and available immediately

Note: All data stays local on your machine. No external API calls or cloud storage required.

Why This Exists

Solo immigration attorneys and small practices spend 30–40% of billable time manually filling USCIS forms — a tedious, error-prone process that Docketwise charges $3,564/year to partially automate. This plugin guides attorneys through structured client intake, determines required forms, generates annotated field-by-field instructions, and produces the full filing document package (cover letter, evidence checklist, case report) — all stored locally with no client data leaving your machine.

Quick Start

1. Install the plugin via the Cowork plugin manager
2. Run /immigration:immigration-setup to initialize your workspace
3. Run /immigration:immigration-intake to collect client data (conversational Q&A)
4. Run /immigration:immigration-pipeline to complete the full workflow
5. Open the DOCX files in outbound/ and review before filing

Commands

Command	Description
/immigration:immigration-setup	Initialize workspace, check dependencies
/immigration:immigration-intake	Collect client data through conversational Q&A
/immigration:immigration-validate	Validate data and determine required USCIS forms
/immigration:immigration-populate	Generate annotated form-filling instructions DOCX
/immigration:immigration-docs	Generate cover letter, evidence checklist, personal statement
/immigration:immigration-report	Generate comprehensive case summary report
/immigration:immigration-pipeline	Run complete workflow (stages 0–5 in sequence)
/immigration:immigration-kb	View centralized immigration law knowledge base
/immigration:immigration-status	Show pipeline progress for current case

How It Works

The pipeline runs in 6 stages:

1. Setup → Initialize workspace, check Python/python-docx, create config
2. Intake → Conversational Q&A collects client data → processing/immigration-intake.json
3. Validate → Determines required forms, validates completeness → processing/immigration-validated.json
4. Populate → Maps client data to USCIS form fields, generates instructions DOCX → outbound/{client}-form-instructions.docx
5. Docs → Generates cover letter, evidence checklist, statement template → outbound/
6. Report → Synthesizes everything into case summary → outbound/{client}-case-report.docx

AI-Powered Features

This plugin leverages Claude's AI capabilities to go beyond simple automation:

• Intelligent Intake Extraction — Understands natural language answers and extracts structured data automatically
• Case Analysis & Form Selection — Determines which USCIS forms are required and explains why, citing INA sections and CFR regulations
• Smart Field Mapping — Identifies which fields can be auto-filled vs. which require attorney judgment ([ATTORNEY REVIEW REQUIRED]), with regulatory notes per field
• Case-Specific Document Generation — Tailors cover letter tone, evidence checklists, and personal statement guidance to the specific case type
• Case Synthesis & Reporting — Synthesizes all case data into a clear executive summary with timeline and priority action items
• Centralized Immigration Law Knowledge Base — INA sections, CFR regulations, USCIS Policy Manual references, eligibility checklists, and evidence standards in a single authoritative source (immigration-kb)
• Eligibility Screening with Date Calculations — Computes 5-year LPR eligibility date per INA §316(a), early filing window per INA §316(b), continuous residence analysis per 8 CFR §316.5, and 3-year spouse rule per INA §319(a)
• Inadmissibility Ground Detection — Screens intake data for INA §212(a) inadmissibility indicators (criminal per §212(a)(2), public charge per §212(a)(4), unlawful presence per §212(a)(9)(B)) and suggests applicable waivers (I-601, I-601A)
• Concurrent Filing Optimization — Automatically identifies when I-765 and I-131 can be filed with I-485 at no additional fee per 8 CFR §245.2(a)(5)(ii), saving $1,040 in filing fees
• Evidence Checklist with Regulatory Citations — Each evidence item cites the specific CFR section requiring it (e.g., 8 CFR §204.2(a)(1)(i)(B) for spouse evidence, 8 CFR §213a.2(c)(2) for I-864 financial docs)
• Fee Calculation per Current USCIS Fee Schedule — Itemized fees per USCIS Fee Schedule final rule (effective 04/01/2024; 8 CFR §106) with concurrent filing savings and I-912 fee waiver eligibility

What It's an Alternative To

SaaS Tool	Annual Cost	Key Overlap
Docketwise	$3,564/yr (3 users)	Form auto-fill, intake questionnaire
eImmigration	$660–$1,020/yr	Form generation, intake
INSZoom	~$2,000+/yr	Case management, form generation

Key Differentiators

• Included with your subscription — No subscription, no per-seat fees
• Data stays local — No client PII uploaded to vendor cloud servers
• Full attorney control — All outputs are standard DOCX files editable in any tool
• No buggy integrations — Standalone workflow, no CRM integration failures
• Customizable — Attorneys can modify the skills for their jurisdiction or specialty

Feature Comparison

Feature	This Plugin	Docketwise	eImmigration
Client intake questionnaire	✅ Full	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial
USCIS form field mapping (6 forms)	✅ Full	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial
Data validation & missing-field detection	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ Partial
Cover letter & evidence checklist	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	❌ None
Case summary report	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	❌ None
E-filing submission	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None
Persistent case database	❌ None	✅ Full	✅ Full
Real-time deadline reminders	❌ None	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial
Client portal	❌ None	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial
Eligibility screening (INA §212/§245/§316)	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	❌ None
Inadmissibility detection (INA §212(a))	✅ Full	❌ None	❌ None
Regulatory citations per form field	✅ Full	❌ None	❌ None
Concurrent filing optimization	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	❌ None
Fee calculation with savings analysis	✅ Full	⚠️ Partial	⚠️ Partial
Centralized legal knowledge base	✅ Full	❌ None	❌ None
Data privacy (stays local)	✅ Full	❌ None	❌ None
Cost	Included with your subscription	$3,564/yr	$660–$1,020/yr

Estimated Cost per Use

Disclaimer: Token estimates are approximate and based on typical usage patterns measured from skill prompt sizes. Actual costs vary with input data size, conversation length, and complexity. Estimates use Claude Sonnet 4.6 pricing ($3/1M input, $15/1M output). Cowork and Claude Desktop subscription users (Pro/Max/Team) are not charged per-token — these estimates apply only to direct Anthropic API usage. Running stages individually in fresh sessions uses fewer input tokens than running the full pipeline sequentially, because pipeline mode accumulates conversation history across stages.

Per skill (run individually in a fresh session):

Stage	Skill Prompt	User Input	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
immigration-docs	~2.9K	~800	~6.6K	~3.0K	~$0.06
immigration-report	~2.3K	~800	~6.1K	~6.0K	~$0.11
immigration-validate	~2.9K	~800	~6.6K	~4.0K	~$0.08
immigration-kb	~7.4K	~800	~11.0K	~6.0K	~$0.12
immigration-intake	~3.3K	~800	~6.9K	~3.3K	~$0.07
immigration-populate	~3.3K	~800	~7.0K	~3.3K	~$0.07
Standalone total			~44.1K	~25.6K	~$0.52

Full pipeline (all stages in one session — context accumulates):

Stage	Base Input	+ History	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
immigration-docs	~6.9K	0	~6.9K	~3.0K	~$0.07
immigration-report	~6.3K	~3.8K	~10.1K	~6.0K	~$0.12
immigration-validate	~7.0K	~10.6K	~17.6K	~4.0K	~$0.11
immigration-kb	~11.4K	~15.4K	~26.8K	~6.0K	~$0.17
immigration-intake	~7.3K	~22.2K	~29.5K	~3.3K	~$0.14
immigration-populate	~7.3K	~26.3K	~33.6K	~3.3K	~$0.15
Pipeline total			~124.6K	~25.6K	~$0.76

Running the full pipeline once typically costs $0.53–$0.98 in API tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.6).

Known Limitations & Workarounds

This is a Cowork plugin, not a traditional SaaS application. It has architectural constraints you should know about:

Limitation	Impact	Workaround
No e-filing integration	Generates instructions but cannot submit to USCIS	Use generated DOCX to manually complete and mail/upload PDF forms to USCIS
No persistent case database	No multi-case dashboard or searchable history	All outputs saved to outbound/{client-name}/ folders; use file system for case archive
No real-time deadline tracking	Cannot send automated RFE reminders	Case report includes critical dates; export to Google Calendar or docket system
USCIS form version drift	Form editions change annually	Config includes edition dates; attorney must verify at uscis.gov/forms before filing
Legal disclaimer required	All outputs are templates only	Every document includes mandatory disclaimer; attorney reviews before filing

Context & Performance Guide

Session Management

Claude's context window is shared across your session. For the full 5-stage pipeline, start a fresh Claude session before running /immigration:immigration-pipeline for best quality output.

Data Volume

Tested with standard single-case workflows (1 client, 1–4 required forms). For attorneys running back-to-back cases, start a new session between cases.

Tips for Best Results

1. Provide complete client information during intake — the more data collected, the fewer [ATTORNEY REVIEW REQUIRED] flags in the output
2. Run setup once per workspace, intake/validate/populate/docs/report for each client case
3. For best quality, run each stage in sequence using /immigration:immigration-pipeline
4. If output quality degrades (shorter responses, missing sections), start a fresh session

Requirements

• Claude Desktop with Cowork mode enabled
• Python 3.8+ installed
• python-docx (pip install python-docx --break-system-packages)

Important Disclaimers

• AI-Generated Content: This plugin uses AI (LLM) technology which can produce inaccurate or incomplete outputs. All content should be treated as a starting point and reviewed for accuracy before use.
• Not Professional Advice: Outputs do not constitute legal, financial, tax, medical, or other professional advice. Consult qualified professionals before making decisions based on generated content.
• No Compliance Guarantee: References to industry standards, regulations, or guidelines are for informational purposes only. This plugin does not guarantee compliance with any law or regulation. Users are responsible for verifying all outputs meet their specific regulatory requirements.
• No Endorsement or Affiliation: Mention of third-party products, standards, or organizations does not imply endorsement, partnership, or certification by those entities.
• Not Legal Advice: This plugin does not provide legal services or legal advice. All legal documents and analysis should be reviewed by a licensed attorney before use.