On July 13, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new guidance memo for its adjudicators indicating that commencing on September 11, 2018, adjudicators may deny any and all applications or petitions without first issuing requests for evidence (RFE) or notices of intent to deny (NOID) if the original submission filed with the agency lacks initial evidence to establish eligibility for the specific benefit sought.
The applications relate both to family-based applications and employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions. For instance, U.S. petitioning companies submitting H-1B or L-1 petitions and extensions of stay would be subject to this policy, as would a U.S. citizen filing for a parent, child or spouse.
The new guidance specifically withdraws a prior agency policy that permitted adjudicators to deny cases without an RFE or NOID only if there was no possibility that additional evidence could rectify a delinquent filing. The new guidance may be reviewed here.
This guidance comes on the heels of a significant agency memorandum issued on June 28,
The agency’s role, which has historically been benefits-focused, appears to be shifting to an enforcement-based initiative. USCIS Director L. Francis
This policy would also affect changes