USCIS Announces Case Expedition for Certain Administrative Errors

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has established an expedited process for reviewing and correcting decisions resulting from certain administrative errors. This process enables customers to request an expedited review of their case and correction of the decision where data entry and/or an administrative error resulted in a denial or rejection of their petition or application.

A customer or his or her authorized representative may contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283 to request that an expedited service request be created if he or she believes that an adverse adjudicative action fits within the criteria listed below:

Administrative Error Categories
IF	AND
1. USCIS issued an adverse decision based solely on a customer’s failure to respond to a Request for Evidence (RFE), Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID), or Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR)	there is documentary evidence that the customer responded to the RFE, NOID, or NOIR, and USCIS received the response in a timely fashion.
2. USCIS issued an adverse decision based solely on a customer’s failure to respond to an RFE, NOID, or NOIR	USCIS determines there is evidence in a USCIS system that the RFE, NOID, or NOIR was not sent to the petitioner/applicant or, if there is a valid Form G-28 on file, to the attorney or representative of record.
3. USCIS issued an adverse decision based solely on a customer’s failure to appear at a biometrics appointment or failure to respond to an RFE, NOID, or NOIR	USCIS determines there is evidence that the customer properly submitted a change of address prior to the issuance of the RFE, NOID, NOIR, or biometric appointment notice; however USCIS sent the RFE, NOID, NOIR, or biometric appointment notice to a previous or improper address.
4. USCIS issued an adverse decision based solely on a customer’s failure to appear at a biometrics appointment	there is documentary evidence that the customer attended the appointment or made a valid, timely request that it be rescheduled.

Once USCIS has received an expedited review request from an applicant or petitioner, the agency will make every effort to take action on the request within 5 business days. This process, and any customer submissions relating to this expedited case review process, does not replace, change, circumvent, or affect any rights of USCIS customers or USCIS in the administrative appeals process. This process will also not impact time frames for appeals or motions, fix errors made by a petitioner or his or her authorized representative, create an independent right of action, or address errors not included in the specific administrative errors listed above.

Notice of Intent to Deny Deadline 30 days - 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8)

(8) Request for Evidence; Notice of Intent to Deny --(i) Evidence of eligibility or ineligibility . If the evidence submitted with the application or petition establishes eligibility, USCIS will approve the application or petition, except that in any case in which the applicable statute or regulation makes the approval of a petition or application a matter entrusted to USCIS discretion, USCIS will approve the petition or application only if the evidence of record establishes both eligibility and that the petitioner or applicant warrants a favorable exercise of discretion. If the record evidence establish es ineligibility, the application or petition will be denied on that basis. (Paragraph (b)(8) revised effective 6/18/07; 72 FR 19100 )

(ii) Initial evidence . If all required initial evidence is not submitted with the application or petition or does not demonstrate eligibility, USCIS in its discretion may deny the application or petition for lack of initial evidence or for ineligibility or request that the missing initial evidence be submitted within a specified period of time as determined by USCIS.

(iii) Other evidence . If all required initial evidence has been submitted but the evidence submitted does not establish eligibility, USCIS may: deny the application or petition for ineligibility; request more information or evidence from the applicant or petitioner, to be submitted within a specified period of time as determined by USCIS; or notify the applicant or petitioner of its intent to deny the application or petition and the basis for the proposed denial, and require that the applicant or petitioner submit a response wi thin a specified period of time as determined by USCIS.

(iv) Process . A request for evidence or notice of intent to deny will be in writing and will specify the type of evidence required, and whether initial evidence or additional evidence is required, or the bases for the proposed denial sufficient to give the applicant or petitioner adequate notice and sufficient information to respond. The request for evidence or notice of intent to deny will indicate the deadline for response, but in no case shall the maximum response period provided in a request for evidence exceed twel ve weeks, nor shall the maximum response time provided in a notice of intent to deny exceed thirty days. Additional time to respond to a request for evidence or notice of intent to deny may not be granted.