A Request for Evidence or RFE does not necessarily mean that USCIS is about to deny your case. But, if you do not respond to the Request for Evidence correctly, your case may be denied.
What Is A RFE?
A Request for Evidence is a way for USCIS to request additional information so that a decision can be made on your case. This could be simply because a required document was not included with your initial filing. In that case, you may receive a type of Request for Evidence called a “Request for Initial Evidence” that asks you to submit the required documents. In other cases, after a closer review is made of your documents, the immigration officer may want you to provide additional documents so that they can better understand your case. One example of this is when a person applies for adjustment of status to get a green card based on marriage and the immigration officer would like to see additional documents that demonstrate that you have a bona fide marriage with your spouse.
How Do I Respond To A RFE?
The first thing that you should do when you receive a letter from USCIS requesting additional evidence is to carefully review it to make sure that you understand what documents you need to submit in order to respond to everything requested in the RFE. If you do not submit everything that is requested, your application may be denied because you failed to submit everything requested.
In addition, you need to make sure that you understand the deadline for submitting your response to USCIS. If you fail to submit your response before the deadline, your application could be denied because you submitted your response late.
Finally, you need to make sure that you submit your response to the correct address. The letter you receive from USCIS will give you instructions on where to submit your response. You should make sure that you follow these instructions carefully.
Do I Need A Lawyer To Respond to A RFE?
There is no requirement that you have an immigration lawyer in order to respond to a Request for Evidence. But, if you have any questions about what has been requested or how you should respond, you should consult with an immigration lawyer as soon as possible. The consequences of making a mistake with your Request for Evidence response can be severe, so it is very important that you don’t make any mistakes with your response.
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This was a very interesting blog I have never heard of this request for evidence before. Thank you for explaining it because I will definitely need to know about this if I ever receive one because I would not want the law coming down on me for not getting them the right documentation. I think having a lawyer look at the document would be very advisable.
You did a great job on this blog. You put a lot of information in this article that people don’t know about I’m sure. I know I had know idea about this before reading your article and I am supper glad that you posted this information just in case. I hope that you will continue posting information pertaining to this.
This whole immigration law, with all of its stipulations and potential loop holes, seems to be quite complicated. I can see why immigrants tend to rejoice when they finally, after mountains of applications and miles of red tape, find themselves for the first time in their lives, free and in a position to pursue their own endeavors and goals for the first time in their lives, in the most free, and the richest country on Earth.