Prepare a factual chronology of identity, citizenship, residence and U.S. immigration events, with an index of supporting records already available.
Prioritise accuracy over volume
Flag uncertain dates and missing notices rather than filling gaps from memory as though verified. Counsel can use the outline to identify targeted document needs under current instructions. Share sensitive records securely; a preliminary consultation summary need not become an unrestricted collection of every personal document you own.
Prioritize accuracy over volume at this stage, since the purpose is to let an adviser identify the issues rather than to assemble a filing. A short, complete and honest outline is worth more than a large collection of documents. It should cover each person's identity and nationality details as they appear on official records, every immigration and travel history point including refusals and any period of overstay, employment and business history in outline, the general shape of the funding and where it came from, and family relationships with dates.
Flag anything uncertain rather than guessing. Full document collection comes later and is expensive; commissioning it before anyone has identified what matters is how households spend substantially before learning anything useful. Where an outline has been prepared by someone else, read it yourself before it is sent, since errors introduced at this stage tend to be repeated through every document that follows and are considerably harder to correct once they have been relied upon.