PROBLEM I was approached one spring, appropriately enough, by a young woman who expressed great anxiety about her upcoming Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), known more simply as the I-129F. She had written out a draft that she feared would not be effective, as she had received feedback to that effect from knowledgeable parties.

Lily (not her real name) had met her fiancé during a chance encounter two years earlier, when she and a friend of hers had stopped to ask a local for a restaurant recommendation in a small town in Croatia. Lily and the local hit it off amazingly well during what became an extended conversation, leading to an exchange of contact information. The relationship blossomed quickly, leading to a whirlwind romance, culminating in an accepted proposal of marriage.

If the Petition for Alien Fiancé was rejected, that would tremendously complicate their plans, as it could potentially delay the fiancé’s arrival in the U.S. by many years. In a way, their future together was riding on my ability to revise Lily’s draft, an awesome responsibility, indeed.

SOLUTION

The first thing I always make clear to clients who come to me for assistance with what are in effect legal documents is that I am not an attorney and therefore not qualified to dispense legal advice. I did have experience with the I-129F, however, which has been helpful with assisting clients like Lily with editing their materials.

The first part of the solution, as it usually happens, involved asking questions about the situation. In Lily’s case, after all questions had been answered, I was able to edit the document asynchronously.

Sometimes clients balk at the fee. “So much for just one piece of paper?” she asked. I explained that the document will end up being closer to two pages — and every sentence will need to be substantially rewritten. Realizing that the fee was actually quite modest relative to what was involved, as well as the potential value of the work, she decided to proceed.

RESULT

Several months later, I received the happy news that the petition had been successful: Lily’s fiancé had joined her in California and they were planning their wedding!

I cannot say with certainty that her petition would not have been approved with her original draft. But I think it’s reasonable to say that the revision work I did for her probably increased the chances of success.

I’ll let you be the judge, as you access the documents at these links, for the BEFORE and the AFTER versions of the response.

Persuasion is not always achieved by explicitly or overtly arguing for one thing or another. Persuasion is sometimes achieved simply through a credible and convincing presentation of information, as was the case here. What ultimately made the response so effective is its high degree of persuasiveness, in the sense just described.

THE SAME GUIDING PRINCIPLE PROBABLY APPLIES TO WHATEVER PROJECT YOU MAY HAVE IN MIND AT THIS TIME: Regardless of the nature of the project, success will hinge upon effective messaging — PERSUASION of your audience, in other words, into believing what you are telling them. That’s the name of the game. It’s what I do and why they pay me the big bucks, so to speak.