RFE stands for Request for Evidence. In U.S. immigration, it is a notice telling you that USCIS cannot yet approve what you filed and naming the evidence it wants before it decides. It is not a decision against you. The officer could have denied your case outright but chose to request more evidence instead.
The quality of your response determines whether the RFE leads to a favourable decision or an outright denial.
Beyond Border attorneys have collectively handled 4,000+ immigration cases across O-1, L-1, EB-1, and EB-2 NIW categories. The guidance below comes from that practice experience and USCIS regulations.
An RFE is a USCIS notice issued because the petitioner has not yet met the required standard of proof, which USCIS defines as a preponderance of the evidence. You must show it is "more likely than not" that you meet each required element.
When your file reaches an officer, they have three choices by law: The officer may deny the case, may "request more information or evidence from the applicant or petitioner," or may "notify the applicant or petitioner of its intent to deny."
USCIS issues an RFE when elements are missing, or the record is not convincing enough. USCIS data shows that RFE rates for employment-based green cards (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories) ranged from 24% to 35% in fiscal year 2019, depending on the specific category.
Essentially, the officer has identified a gap, given you an opportunity to improve your record, and set a deadline to do so.
A Request for Initial Evidence, or RFIE, is issued when you never submitted a required document. An RFE is issued when you submitted the required document, but the officer finds it insufficient to meet the standard of proof.
An RFIE names a missing piece, such as a required certificate, a signed contract, or a fee receipt, and the fix is to provide it. An RFE names a piece that exists in the record but falls short, such as a recommendation letter that does not establish the petitioner's role with enough specificity, and the fix is to strengthen or provide it, not simply resend what was already there.
The distinction is in what the notice is asking you to prove: that something exists, or that what exists is convincing.
These are three different notices issued by USCIS, and each means something different. An RFE asks for more evidence to prove your eligibility. A NOID is much more serious. It means the officer is leaning toward denying your application, often because they uncovered negative or conflicting information you haven't seen yet, and is giving you a final chance to address it.
An RFE usually asks you to submit something. A NOID often asks you to rebut something you didn't see until the notice arrived, and it gives you 30 days to do it. Here’s how they compare side-by-side;
Response periods are current as of August 2026 and can change. The deadline printed on your own notice governs and may be shorter.
USCIS guidance requires an RFE to do four things, and each one tells you something you need before drafting your response.
If you cannot locate the notice itself, the deadline is still counting. USCIS serves these by regular or electronic mail. So first check the mailing address on file and the document history in your USCIS online account.
Where the notice cannot be recovered from either, the petitioner of record, meaning the employer on a sponsored filing or you on a self-petition, is the party USCIS will correspond with about a replacement.
You have 30 calendar days from the date USCIS made the decision to file Form I-290B. Under 8 CFR 103.3(a)(2)(i), the affected party must submit "the complete appeal including any supporting brief as indicated in the applicable form instructions within 30 days after service of the decision."
The clock starts when USCIS sends the decision, not when it reaches you. 8 CFR 103.8(b) provides that service by mail "is complete upon mailing," and adds three days to the response period when a notice is mailed.
You cannot request an extension to any of these timelines. Within the period you have, you have three choices: submit a complete response, submit a partial response and ask for a decision based on the record, or withdraw the filing.
Submitting a partial response is not a lesser version of a full response. It instructs the officer to decide your case based on what is in front of them, which converts your deadline into a decision date.
You can also submit a motion to reopen if you show the evidence was not material, that it was in fact submitted on time, or that the request went to the wrong address.
When your case status reads that a response was received, that confirms delivery and nothing more. It does not imply an outcome, and it does not restart or shorten the adjudication.
If the decision goes against you, you can file an appeal, motion to reopen, or motion to reconsider with the Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion. Choosing among the three is the most important part, because they argue different things and only one of them accepts evidence you did not have before.
Under 8 CFR 103.5(a)(2), a motion to reopen requires you to present new facts backed by affidavits or official documents. In contrast, a motion to reconsider must rely on established legal precedents to show an error was made.
The biggest risk with filing an appeal is summary dismissal. According to 8 CFR 103.3(a)(1)(v), an officer must dismiss an appeal right away if it fails to pinpoint specific errors in the facts or legal reasoning.
Simply stating that you disagree with the decision and asking for a second look is not enough. Your appeal will be rejected before anyone even considers its merits.
Your I-290B goes back to the USCIS office that denied your petition. They will review the appeal and decide whether to take favorable action and grant your request or not. USCIS also directs filers to the address listed on its Direct Filing Addresses page for Form I-290B
The initial field review takes up to 45 days. If the office upholds its decision, the next destination depends on the application type. Form I-290B handles appeals for cases outside the Board of Immigration Appeals' jurisdiction. Your denial notice will specify which office handles your appeal.
Note: You cannot appeal some decisions. If your notice does not list appeal options, you can file a motion under 8 CFR 103.5 or submit a new application, as outlined in your notice.
As of August 2026, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) completes an appeal review within 180 days of receiving a complete case record. The appeal must first reach the field office for initial review, which takes 45 days before it reaches AAO. The clock starts after it reaches AAO.
You may also reserve 30 days after filing to submit a supporting brief. That time is part of assembling the complete record, so a reserved brief period comes before the 180 days.
Not everyone affected by a denial can challenge it. Only a person or entity with legal standing in a proceeding can challenge the decision, and it does not include the beneficiary of a visa petition.
On an employer-sponsored petition, that means the employer files the I-290B, not the worker. If the relationship no longer exists, the person with the most at stake has no standing to act.
On a self-petition like an EB-1A or an EB-2 NIW, the petitioner and the beneficiary are the same person, so there is no issue of who can file an appeal.
If you miss the deadline to file a motion to reopen, USCIS may excuse the delay if you can show it was reasonable and outside your control. However, this flexibility does not apply to motions to reconsider, as they have strict deadlines.
Even if you submit your appeal late, it might not be a total loss. Under 8 CFR 103.3(a)(2)(v), an untimely appeal must be rejected as an appeal, but if it meets the requirements of a motion, USCIS can treat it as one and still decide your case on the merits.
If you have an employment-based petition, check out our guide to I-140 denial appeals for a detailed breakdown of whether to appeal or refile.
The Form I-290B fee is US$800, as of August 2026. It is the same amount whether you file an appeal, a motion to reopen, or a motion to reconsider. There is no online discount available on this form.
But there are two exemptions;
You can pay by money order, personal check, or cashier’s check. A credit card via Form G-1450 only works at a USCIS lockbox facility because service centers cannot process card payments.
A strong I-290B filing depends on two things: the right legal theory and clear evidence.
Every numbered finding is an independent reason USCIS refused your petition. Leaving anyone unanswered is enough to keep the refusal on review. Where the argument is that USCIS applied the law incorrectly, ground the argument to these four sources;
Figure out your route and submit the required evidence. The three options on Form I-290B differ in their requirements;
USCIS Rules set the intake rules. Reopening "must state the new facts to be provided in the reopened proceeding and be supported by affidavits or other documentary evidence." Reconsideration "must state the reasons for reconsideration and be supported by any pertinent precedent decisions."
A degree evaluation obtained last week, a corrected employment letter, a citation report run after the denial: none of it belongs in a motion to reconsider, and including it will not make that motion stronger.
Your I-290B does not land at the Administrative Appeals Office. It goes back to the office that denied you. That changes the packet's purpose. The first reader already holds your record and wrote the finding you are contesting, so your job is to make the connection between their finding and your answer impossible to miss, not to reintroduce the case from the beginning.
Five components do that work.
USCIS does not publish success rates for Form I-290B, so there aren't official statistics to show your exact odds. Instead, your chances come down to a few key details: why your case was denied, whether it was due to missing evidence or a legal misunderstanding, whether your chosen route allows the right fix, and whether you addressed every concern in the notice.
Your filing passes through several checks before anyone weighs your argument. Three of them can end the case without the merits being reached at all, which is why the mechanics below matter as much as the brief.
USCIS first confirms the basics: that the form is complete and signed, that it arrived in time, and that the correct fee or an approved fee-waiver request came with it. If you fail this stage, USCIS may deny your filing, rather than merely rejecting it.
Next is whether you are entitled to file at all, and whether you filed the right thing. The affected party does not include the beneficiary of a visa petition, so in an employer-sponsored case, a filing signed by the worker is filed by someone without standing. The employer must file it.
The office that issued the decision reviews your filing and decides "whether to take favorable action and grant the benefit request." That review should conclude within 45 days. The officer who wrote your denial can reverse it without it reaching the AAO.
If the matter reaches the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), its practice manual sets out what it can do.
The AAO's own example is a case where "the appellant has overcome the grounds of the unfavorable decision on appeal, but the AAO has identified additional grounds of ineligibility during its de novo review."
De novo is the operative phrase. The AAO looks at your case fresh rather than only at the findings you contested, so winning the argument you came to make does not stop it from raising problems the first officer never mentioned. The AAO serves its decision by mail on the appellant and any representative of record.
No single processing time covers Form I-290B, because the route, the underlying benefit type, and whether the deciding office resolves the matter itself all change the answer.
What USCIS does publish is a target. The AAO's stated goal is to complete its appellate review within 180 days of receiving a complete case record. It is not a guarantee that cases will be completed within that time. There’s also the 45-day review period for the field office that rejected your case.
Track your progress through the USCIS case-status tool using the receipt number on your notice. Our guide to case-status messages explains what each update means.
Our attorneys will read your notice against your record and tell you what it is actually asking for, whether the evidence you already hold can answer it, and which route that record supports.
The routes are a full response, a motion to reopen, a motion to reconsider, an appeal, or a rebuilt petition filed fresh. They are not interchangeable.
We will also tell you when the record cannot be saved. If a denial accurately reflects a petition that was not ready, spending 30 days and US$800 on an appeal will not result in favorable decisions.
For candidates in O-1, EB-1A, EB-1B, EB-1C, or EB-2 NIW categories, that assessment includes whether a different category fits your profile better than the one that drew the notice. Request a notice review to find out what your record supports.
No, it does not. An RFE means USCIS has not decided your case and is naming what it needs before it does. Officers can deny outright when a filing has no legal basis for approval, so an RFE tells you the officer had that option and chose to ask instead.
No. You do not receive additional time to respond to a request for evidence or notice of intent to deny more than the specified timeline. The deadline printed on your notice is the one that counts.
USCIS may deny the filing as abandoned, deny it based on the record, or both. If the denial was for abandonment, a motion to reopen can still succeed where you show the evidence was not material, that it was submitted on time, or that the request went to an incorrect address.
Yes. Officers now have permission to deny a case for lack of initial evidence without first issuing an RFE or a NOID. Filing a complete petition matters most now.
An appeal asks a different body to review the decision for legal or factual error. A motion to reopen presents new facts to the office that decided your case. A motion to reconsider argues that the law or policy was applied incorrectly to the record as it already stood.
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