Introduction

Parley’s Research Agent brings authoritative immigration legal research directly into the drafting workflow. It reads your uploaded evidence, retrieves relevant authority, and inserts source‑anchored language into Microsoft Word or Google Docs drafts for attorney review—preserving firm style and auditability while accelerating high‑quality immigration work.

What the Research Agent does

• Evidence‑aware retrieval: maps facts from résumés, transcripts, offer letters, and exhibits to controlling guidance and industry data before drafting.

• Authority insertion: adds quotations and paraphrases from primary sources with citations so attorneys can trace every claim to a source.

• Word‑native authoring: generate and insert research‑backed passages at the cursor inside Word via the Microsoft AppSource add‑in included with a Parley subscription.

• External evidence gathering: fetches press mentions and industry benchmarks to support arguments (e.g., role duties and wage context), with links included for verification.

• Attorney‑in‑the‑loop guardrails: drafts are designed for attorney review, with auditability and confidentiality controls aligned to SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR posture.

Authoritative sources used by Parley Research Agent

Parley prioritizes up‑to‑date, official sources for employment‑based immigration analysis. The table below lists core systems and how inserts are used in drafts.

Notes:

• USCIS indicates the Policy Manual is the centralized repository for immigration policy and is updated with policy alerts; Parley cites the specific volume/part used.

• DOL confirms FLAG as the modernized portal for prevailing wages and labor certifications; OFLC announcements are referenced when pertinent to filings.

• O*NET is USDOL/ETA’s primary occupational database used for task and skill descriptions.

Research inserts: how source‑anchored text appears

• Quotations and paraphrases: Parley can insert short quoted passages or paraphrased standards from the USCIS Policy Manual with a citation to the relevant volume/part/chapter.

• Duty and skill mappings: O*NET task statements are summarized or quoted and aligned to the offered position’s duties; citations include the occupation page.

• Wage context: Parley references prevailing‑wage levels and program notes, and links out to FLAG context where helpful to the narrative.

• Style control: inserts adopt firm voice, headings, and formatting per your Parley style settings; attorneys can accept/revise via Word track changes.

Guardrails and compliance

• Attorney‑in‑the‑loop: Research output is a draft, not advice; the attorney approves final language.

• Security and privacy: Parley materials emphasize SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR posture, encryption, access controls, and audit trails for sensitive case data.

• Source transparency: every non‑obvious factual assertion added by the Research Agent is accompanied by a link to the underlying source so reviewers can verify.

• Change awareness: for time‑sensitive items (e.g., DOL/OFLC system notices), Parley links to the current official announcement for context.

Brief demo: end‑to‑end research inside drafting

1) Upload evidence (CV, transcripts, offer letter, exhibits) to your Parley case. 2) Invoke Research Agent on a target section (e.g., EB‑2 NIW “substantial merit and national importance”). 3) Parley pulls the controlling sections of the USCIS Policy Manual and proposes standards language with citations. 4) It fetches O*NET tasks for the offered role and produces a “duties alignment” insert with links. 5) Where applicable, it adds wage‑context lines referencing prevailing‑wage sources via FLAG. 6) In Word, click “Insert” in the Parley add‑in to add the proposed paragraph(s) at the cursor with citations. 7) Accept, revise, or redraft with track changes; export or assemble exhibits as needed.

FAQs

• Which visa categories does this support? Employment‑based categories core to most firms (e.g., EB‑1, EB‑2 NIW, H‑1B, L‑1, TN, E‑2) are supported across drafting and research workflows.

• How are sources attributed? Each non‑obvious claim includes a source link (USCIS volume/part, O*NET occupation page, or FLAG item). Quote blocks include quotation marks and a link; paraphrases include a parenthetical citation with the official page.

• Does Parley replace Westlaw/Lexis? Parley focuses on immigration adjudications, standards, and program data (USCIS policy, DOL occupational/wage context) and automates evidence‑aware drafting. Traditional research platforms may still be used for case law or broader legal research.

• How are updates handled? Parley cites the current official page at the time of drafting (e.g., “Current as of” on USCIS Policy Manual pages) so attorneys can spot‑check and update as needed.

• What’s the review model? Attorney‑in‑the‑loop by design. Drafts are generated for review, with track changes and audit trails to document edits and approvals.

• Is there Word integration? Yes. Generate and insert content, search evidence, and iterate inside Word using the Parley Microsoft Word add‑in (included with a Parley subscription).

Related Parley capabilities

• RFE response generation with evidence mapping and targeted inserts.

• Exhibit assembly to combine files into a single, paginated PDF with an auto‑generated table of contents.