Facts
Name: Sarah Pham, immigration attorney in San Jose, California.
Client: A U.S. citizen petitioning for his spouse’s green card.
Matter: Family-based adjustment case with a recent USCIS request for additional evidence (RFE).
Problem: Critical documents scattered across email attachments, phone scans, and separate PDFs.
The Document Situation, in Plain English
By the time the RFE arrived, Sarah’s team had already collected:
- Scanned marriage certificate and certified translation
- Copies of passports and prior visas
- Joint lease and utility bills
- Joint bank statements over 12 months
- Photos together with family and friends
- Affidavits from relatives
- A prior submission of forms that had been scanned back for internal records
None of this was in one place. Some items lived in the case management system, others in email threads, and several came in as phone snapshots sent via text. RFE instructions from USCIS, however, were very clear: respond with organized evidence that addresses each requested item.
Sarah didn’t want her internal case copy to look like a digital junk drawer. She wanted a file her staff could reference quickly, and that she could print or share securely if needed—one continuous packet that mirrored the logic of the RFE.
Issue
How can an immigration lawyer turn dozens of separate PDFs and image scans into a single, orderly case file that:
- Follows the sequence of the RFE
- Groups related evidence together (e.g., all joint financials)
- Is easy for staff to navigate later
- Can be printed or uploaded without missing documents
Background: Why the Old Way Failed
Before she changed her process, Sarah would keep each document as its own file: one PDF for the lease, one for each bank statement, one per affidavit, and so on. During prep, she might open six windows at once. If a paralegal needed to check something, they would hunt through folders named /Cases/Pham/FAM-2025/Docs/Scans hoping the right file name actually existed.
When an RFE came back a year later, reconstructing what had been sent (and what was new) was slow and stressful. It wasn’t a legal problem; it was a document-management problem.
Analysis: Treating the Case File Like a Brief
For this spouse petition RFE, Sarah decided to treat the evidence packet the way she would treat a legal brief: one primary document, with exhibits in a logical order and a clear table of contents.
She downloaded or exported every relevant piece into PDF format, then opened https://pdfmigo.com in her browser. All the PDFs—bank statements, leases, IDs, affidavits, photos laid out on simple exhibit sheets—were dragged into the upload area. On screen, they appeared as a series of thumbnails instead of cryptic file names.
Sarah and her paralegal arranged the pages into sections:
- Section A: RFE notice and cover letter
- Section B: Civil documents (marriage certificate, translations, IDs)
- Section C: Joint residence proof (leases, utility bills)
- Section D: Joint finances (bank statements, credit card summaries)
- Section E: Relationship evidence (photos, tickets, travel records)
- Section F: Sworn affidavits
A simple, one-page table of contents was placed at the very beginning. Once the order looked right, Sarah clicked Merge PDF and downloaded a single file: Pham_RFE_Response_Master.pdf.
Holding
Internally, the merged PDF became the definitive case file for this RFE response. The firm printed a tabbed copy for physical storage and kept the digital version in the client’s matter folder. Months later, when the client called with a question about “that big RFE we sent,” staff could open one document and jump straight to the relevant section instead of hunting through dozens of files.
The result with USCIS? The response was accepted, the case moved forward, and the approval notice arrived—exactly the outcome everyone wanted. The merged file didn’t win the case by itself, but it made the lawyer’s work faster, cleaner, and easier to defend.
Practical Takeaways for Immigration Practices
- Think in exhibits, not individual files. Organize evidence the way a judge or officer will read it.
- Mirror government requests. If an RFE lists items A–F, structure your merged PDF the same way.
- Create a master case file. One internal PDF becomes your reference for future RFEs, appeals, or consultations.
- Reduce training time. New staff can understand a case faster when everything is in a single, labeled packet.
For Sarah Pham, merging PDFs wasn’t about technology for its own sake. It was about staying ahead of the paper trail so she could spend more time on analysis and strategy—and less time wondering where the latest bank statement ended up.
