A Request for Evidence (RFE) is a request issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to petitioners for residency, citizenship, family visas, and employment visas. Examples of petitions for which a RFE may be issued are Form I-129 (alien worker authorization), Form I-140 (immigrant worker authorization), and Form I-130 (family visas).
The RFE is intended for use in cases where the adjudicator (the person evaluating the petition) believes that there is not enough evidence to approve the petition, but also believes that the petition may be redeemable, and that there is no clear factual or statutory basis for denial.[1]
The RFE, when used, should be as clear as possible about what types of additional evidence are needed to fill in the gap, and what inconsistencies or problems have been found in the evidence submitted so far. It is not intended for use for the adjudicator's reassurance in cases where there is enough evidence to approve the petition.[2] It is sent to, and the response must be sent by, the petitioner (or the attorney representing the petitioner, in cases where the petition is filed through an attorney) rather than the beneficiary.
The following are some key differences between the RFE and the Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID):[2] [1]
In cases where the USCIS simply needs answers to a few specific questions (such as a complete translation), it simply issues a Request for Clarification instead of a RFE.[2]
RFEs typically request one or more of the following types of evidence:
The time within which the response to a RFE must be sent is indicated on the RFE. It generally varies between 30 and 90 days. If no response is received within the time indicated on the RFE, the USCIS will process the application without considering the additional evidence, which in most cases means a denial (because petitions where there was enough evidence to accept should not have RFEs in the first place).[3]
The petitioner has only one chance to respond to a RFE,[4]
When responding to a RFE, the petitioner may attach additional pieces of evidence over and above those explicitly requested in the RFE.
The expected processing time for petitions is generally defined as the time till an approval, denial, RFE, or NOID is issued. Therefore, the time taken while waiting for a response from the petitioner is not counted as part of the processing time. After the petitioner responds, the expected additional processing time is comparable with the processing time for a complete first application.
For petitions that request the Premium Processing Service, the expected processing time to a first response (approval, denial, RFE, or NOID) is 15 days, and the time after receiving a response to the RFE is another 15 days.[5]