Sources we read
Dahlia answers from published, official material only. Each source is stored with a version and an effective date, and every answer points back at the specific one it used.
The kinds of material Dahlia reads
- Federal regulations
- Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as published in the eCFR. This is the text the agency itself is bound by, and it is what most answers about eligibility and process ultimately rest on.
- Statute
- The Immigration and Nationality Act, where a question turns on the law rather than on the regulation implementing it.
- Agency policy guidance
- The USCIS Policy Manual and published policy alerts, which set out how the agency applies the rules it is given.
- Form instructions and filing material
- The official instructions published alongside each form, which frequently answer questions the regulation does not address at all.
- Rulemaking notices
- Federal Register notices, so that a rule which has been published but has not yet taken effect can be described as exactly that.
Why every citation has a date on it
Immigration rules change, and they change without announcing themselves to the person they affect. An answer without an effective date is an answer you cannot check, because you have no way of knowing which version of the rule it came from. So every citation Dahlia shows you carries the date its source took effect, and links to the published text so you can read it yourself.
What Dahlia does not read
- Forums, comment threads, and social media, including accounts that are usually right.
- Other people's case outcomes, which cannot tell you anything reliable about yours.
- Marketing material from law firms, consultants, or preparers.
- Anything a human reviewer has not approved into the source set.