USCIS Confirms Suspension of Courtesy Faxes for Premium Processing RFEs and Denials

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed temporary suspension of the issuance of courtesy faxes for requests for evidence (RFEs), notices of intent to deny (NOIDs), and denials due to the pandemic. The USCIS will continue to issue such notices via regular mail using the U.S. Postal Service.

Background

Traditionally, if an RFE or related notice was issued on a petition filed using premium processing, the USCIS would fax a courtesy copy of the notice to the petitioner and/or legal representative, and have the original notice sent by mail.

On March 20, 2020, as the pandemic was quickly spreading through the United States, the USCIS suspended the availability of premium processing service. The USCIS begin to phase this service back in beginning in June 2020, but stakeholders soon began to report that they were not receiving faxed copies of RFEs and related documents, as expected. The USCIS has now officially confirmed that these documents are no longer being provided via fax due to the ongoing pandemic.

Conclusion

To be clear, the USCIS is still offering premium processing service for the case types eligible for this service. However, all notices related to such cases will only be sent by regular mail for the foreseeable future.

Copyright © 2020, MURTHY LAW FIRM. All Rights Reserved