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Introduction
Have you applied for a prominent US visa? Are you looking to enquire about RFE documents? If so, you have landed on the right page. You will get detailed information about RFE documents here.
RFE documents are an integral part of USCIS RFE to seek missing or additional information to process beneficiary visa applications. You may get an RFE on any ground. For instance, if you have applied for an H-1B visa, USCIS may send you an RFE seeking H-1B RFE documents to check whether the candidate meets the eligibility requirements of specialty occupations.
Other scenarios include but are not limited to employer-employee relationships, beneficiary qualifications, maintenance of status, proof of legal entry, document translations, etc. We will highlight all cases USCIS seeks RFE documents for deciding on visa applications.
Read on to know them.
What is an RFE?
RFE, also called Request For Evidence, is a document that USCIS sends to seek missing evidence to process visa applications. To put it simply, a USCIS officer needs additional evidence/proof to determine the eligibility of the concerned person to obtain the visa. RFE often causes delays, so it’s better to go through the instructions and required documents while filling out the applications to avoid RFEs.
Sample RFE document
Now you know what RFE is, let’s talk about what sample RFE documents look like. It will give you a better idea of the RFE document format, structuring, and the sections RFE includes. For example, if you have applied for an H-1B visa, USCIS sends an RFE to get related H-1B RFE documents to determine the beneficiary eligibility for an H-1B visa. Here is how it looks.
Decoding the RFE
Let’s find out the significant sections inside an RFE and understand what they mean. RFE contains four major parts; response deadline, evidence lacking, the evidence submitted, and responding mail address. We will explain each part below for ease of understanding.
In the response deadline section as highlighted above, find the RFE response deadline. You must submit your RFE response packet on or before the deadline ends.
In the evidence lacking section as highlighted, USCIS has asked to submit additional information to satisfy the eligibility requirements for your visa application.
In the evidence submitted section as highlighted, you will find the evidence you had already submitted to satisfy the requirement along with the H-1B application. USCIS intends to get some more evidence to move ahead with your petition.
At the end of the RFE section as highlighted, you can see the mail address where you must mail or fax your RFE response packet (if </= 25 pages).
Stay calm and understand the RFE by going through it multiple times and then prepare the course of action.
How to respond?
When you get an RFE, it does not mean that you will get a visa denial. USCIS only intends to seek additional information to decide on your petition and process it further. However, if you do not respond and send the RFE response package before the deadline ends, you probably have to see a denial. Follow the below steps to respond to RFE effectively.
- First, go through the RFE document carefully and see if USCIS has asked you for the evidence that you already attached to the original visa application. If it is so, you can take copies of the evidence from the applications and include them in the RFE response packet.
- Gather the information and put them in your RFE response packet. It may be any document like a birth certificate, professional certificate, marriage certificate, etc.
- If your document is other than English, get it translated by a certified translation agency. Make sure the translation does not affect the true meaning of the document.
- All the evidence which you have collected must be in the RFE response packet. Send the packet to the mailing address given by the USCIS in the RFE notice. Do not send the RFE response packet to any other USCIS mail which you know.
- Make sure you send your RFE response to USCIS before the deadline ends. It is clearly mentioned USCIS will not entertain an RFE response after the RFE response time is over. And the major consequence may include your visa application being processed without the RFE response you sent.
How can Imagility help you build an effective RFE response
Being an innovative immigration software platform, Imagility helps you at each step to respond effectively to USICS RFE. Attorneys can easily build RFE responses using the RFE response builder with existing petition details or request for more information through the platform itself by notifying the beneficiary or petitioner. Even if the petition is created outside the platform, the user can use the petition to create a well-structured RFE response quickly.
Thus, a well drafted, detailed RFE response in collaboration with beneficiary or petitioner can be put together quickly. There is no time lost in communicating to stakeholders about the RFE or additional evidence needed. Petitioners and beneficiaries can see the tasks assigned to them under Petitioner/Beneficiary of the RFE timeline and act immediately. At the end of these actions, a well drafted RFE response will be ready to be sent to the USCIS, well before the deadline.
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