The decision log every EB-1A second review needs
A second review should leave more than edits in a document. It should leave a record of what changed, why it changed, and who owns the next unresolved question.
Start with one row for each disputed claim:
1. Disputed claim: preserve the original wording and tie it to the officer finding or final-merits point.
2. Source checked: record the exhibit, page, paragraph, timestamp, or public record the reviewer opened.
3. Decision: mark the claim accept, narrow, replace, or counsel question.
4. Reason: state the fact the source supports and the part it does not support.
5. Next owner: assign factual follow-up, independent verification, or legal review.
Keep rejected wording in the log. This matters because an overstatement can return during a later rewrite when nobody remembers why the first reviewer removed it.
If two reviewers disagree, write the disputed fact before discussing the prose. One reviewer may be reading the source as proof of participation while another is treating it as proof of impact. Those are different claims. The decision row makes that difference visible.
Use a separate row when one exhibit supports several claims. A document can verify authorship and still say nothing about acclaim. It can verify a role and still leave impact unresolved.
The legal boundary should stay clear. Evidence reviewers can check facts, locators, dates, and source limits. Qualified immigration counsel should own legal significance, response strategy, and any unresolved legal conclusion.
The full guide shows how to combine this decision log with an issue-to-evidence map and a reproducible acceptance test:
https://chateb1.com/blog/how-to-respond-to-an-eb1a-rfe-or-noid-without-turning-it-into-a-document-dump?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=publication&utm_campaign=rfe_second_review_decision_log_20260901&utm_content=guide
If your EB-1A petition draft is already assembled and you want a second pass on claim-to-proof fit and final-merits coherence, the $199 EB-1A Petition Second Review Kit is the matching next step:
https://chateb1.com/go/second-review-kit?wanted=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=publication&utm_campaign=rfe_second_review_decision_log_20260901&utm_content=second_review
Educational only. Not legal advice.