UscisPython

Small Python toolkit for working with USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) non-precedent decisions: bulk-download decision PDFs from the public listing, then summarize each case (beneficiary role and denial rationale) using the OpenAI API.

Features

• PDF download — Crawls the AAO non-precedent decisions list, follows Drupal pagination (rel="next"), downloads linked .pdf files, and logs successful URLs.
• Denial summary — Reads text from downloaded PDFs (embedded text only; no OCR), sends an excerpt to OpenAI Chat Completions, and writes a UTF-8 TSV with filename, beneficiary profession/title/field (in Russian), and a detailed denial/evidence summary (in Russian).

Requirements

• Python 3.10+ (uses str | None style hints in the summary script)
• Dependencies: see requirements.txt

Setup

python -m venv .venv
# Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
# Unix:    source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

For the summary step, copy .env.example to .env and set OPENAI_API_KEY. Optionally set OPENAI_MODEL (default in code: gpt-4o-mini).

Usage

The repo includes a small launcher that runs scripts from the scripts/ folder:

python run.py --list
python run.py uscis_pdf_download
python run.py uscis_pdf_download --year 2025 --topic 18
python run.py uscis_pdf_denial_summary

You can also run scripts directly:

python scripts/uscis_pdf_download.py --year 2025 --topic 19
python scripts/uscis_pdf_denial_summary.py --help

uscis_pdf_download

• Input: Optional --year (defaults to the current calendar year). Optional --topic (defaults to 18 — I-140 Advanced Degree / Exceptional Ability / NIW). Use --topic All for every topic.
• Output:
  • PDFs → files/uscis_pdfs/pdfs/<topic>/<year>/ (e.g. pdfs/18/2025/)
  • Successful PDF URLs (rewritten each run) → files/uscis_pdfs/pdf_urls.txt

Topics (--topic)

Codes from the AAO non-precedent decisions topic filter (may change on the USCIS site):

Code	Topic
All	All topics
1	8 CFR 214.2(h)(6)(v)(H) - Invalidation of Temporary Labor Certificates Issued by Governor of Guam
2	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Treaty Investor (E-2)
3	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Athlete, Artist, or Entertainer – P)
4	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Extraordinary Ability – O)
5	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Free Trade Agreement / NAFTA Professional – TN)
6	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (International Exchange or Cultural Worker – Q)
7	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Intracompany Transferee – L-1)
8	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Religious Worker – R-1)
9	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Temporary Worker in a Specialty Occupation or Fashion Model – H-1B)
10	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Temporary Worker Performing Agricultural Labor or Services – H-2A)
11	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Temporary Worker Performing Non-Agricultural Labor or Services – H-2B)
12	I-129 - Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Trainee – H-3)
13	I-129CW - Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker
14	I-129F - Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)
15	I-130 - Petition for Alien Relative (Adam Walsh Act Only)
16	I-131 - Application for Issuance of Reentry Permit
17	I-131 - Application for Refugee Travel Document
18	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Advanced Degree, Exceptional Ability, National Interest Waiver)
19	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Extraordinary Ability)
20	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Multinational Managers/Executives)
21	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Outstanding Professors/Researchers)
22	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Professionals and Other Workers)
23	I-140 - Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Skilled Workers filed after 1-6-2010)
24	I-212 - Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal
25	I-352 - Breach of Delivery Bond
26	I-352 - Breach of Maintenance of Status Bond
27	I-352 - Breach of Voluntary Departure Bond
28	I-360 - Petition for Abused Parent of U.S. Citizen
29	I-360 - Petition for Battered or Abused Spouse or Child under VAWA
30	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Armed Forces Member
31	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Employee of an International Organization
32	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Employee of Panama Canal Company, U.S. Government in Canal Zone, or Canal Zone Government
33	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Employee or Former Employee of U.S. Government Abroad
34	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile
35	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Physician
36	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Religious Worker
37	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Status as an Afghan or Iraqi Translator
38	I-360 - Petition for Special Immigrant Status as an Iraqi Employee of the U.S. Government
39	I-360 - Petition to Classify Amerasian as Child of U.S. Citizen
40	I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status of Alien in T Nonimmigrant Status
41	I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status of Alien in U Nonimmigrant Status
42	I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status of Certain Cuban and Haitian Nationals
43	I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status of Diplomat
44	I-485 - Application for Adjustment of Status of Indochinese Refugees
45	I-485 - Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
46	I-485 - Certification of Adjustment of Status for Cuban Nationals
47	I-485 - Denial of Adjustment for Not Establishing Bona Fide Marriage Exemption
48	I-526 - Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur
49	I-600 - Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative
50	I-600A - Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition
51	I-601 - Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Criminal and Related)
52	I-601 - Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Exception)
53	I-601 - Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Fraud or Misrepresentation)
54	I-601 - Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Health-Related)
55	I-601 - Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Unlawful Presence)
56	I-612 - Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement
57	I-687 - Legalization: Application for Temporary Resident Status
58	I-687 - Legalization: Termination of Temporary Resident Status
59	I-690 - Legalization and Special Agricultural Workers: Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility
60	I-698/I-485 - Legalization: Application to Adjust Status from Temporary to Permanent Resident
61	I-700 - Special Agricultural Workers: Application for Adjustment to Permanent Resident Status
62	I-700 - Special Agricultural Workers: Application for Temporary Resident Status
63	I-700 - Special Agricultural Workers: Termination of Temporary Resident Status
64	I-800 - Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative
65	I-800A - Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country
66	I-821 - Application for Temporary Protected Status
67	I-829 - Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions
68	I-905 - Application for Authorization to Issue Certification for Health Care Workers
69	I-914 - Application for T Nonimmigrant Status
70	I-918 - Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status
71	I-924 - Application For Regional Center Under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program
72	I-929 - Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U-1 Nonimmigrant
73	N-470 - Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes
74	N-565 - Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document
75	N-565 - Application for Special Certificate of Naturalization
76	N-600 - Application for Certificate of Citizenship
77	Section 101 - Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Students
78	Section 205 - Revocation of Approval of Immigrant Visa Petition
79	Section 205 - Revocation of Approval of Nonimmigrant Visa Petition
80	Section 323 - Application for Certificate of Naturalization of Adopted Children
81	Section 340 - Revocation of Naturalization
82	Section 342 - Administrative Cancellation of Certificates, Documents, or Records

uscis_pdf_denial_summary

• Input: *.pdf under files/uscis_pdfs/pdfs/ by default (including folders like 18/2025/; override with --dir).
• Output:
  • TSV files/uscis_pdfs/summary_<topic>.txt (e.g. summary_18.txt; tab-separated: filename, category, profession, denial). One file per AAO topic code when several topics are present. Override with --output for a single combined file.
  • PDF copies under files/uscis_pdfs/classified/<category>/… (same relative path as under pdfs/). Disable with --no-organize.
• Category (niw / eb2_standard / unclear): topic 18 mixes NIW and ordinary EB-2; the script separates them via text markers (e.g. national interest waiver, Dhanasar) plus the model’s category field. Keyword NIW hits win over the model.
• Options: --dir, --output, --model (or OPENAI_MODEL), --organize / --no-organize, --classified-dir.

Note: Only the first ~12,000 characters of extracted text per PDF are sent to the model. Scanned PDFs without a text layer will produce empty extraction and a placeholder explanation.

Project layout

Path	Purpose
run.py	Launcher: python run.py <script_name> [args...]
scripts/uscis_pdf_download.py	Fetch AAO non-precedent PDFs
scripts/uscis_pdf_denial_summary.py	OpenAI-based summaries
files/uscis_pdfs/	Downloaded PDFs under pdfs/<topic>/<year>/, classified/<category>/…, URL log, and summary_<topic>.txt
requirements.txt	Python dependencies
.env	Local secrets (not committed); see .env.example

Legal and ethical use

This project automates access to publicly published USCIS decision pages. Respect USCIS terms of use, avoid aggressive scraping, and ensure your use of downloaded materials and API-generated summaries complies with applicable law and professional rules. API output may be inaccurate; verify against the original PDFs for any important decision.

License

Not specified in this repository; add a LICENSE file if you need one.