Theme
RFE and denials: 12 community questions on the talent visa
Updated: Author: Alina Kanametova
Requests for evidence, NOIDs and denials: how to respond, deadlines, refiling and appeals.
Key answer
Requests for evidence, NOIDs and denials: how to respond, deadlines, refiling and appeals. Below are 12 questions on this theme that people actually asked in the community chats, with 46 anonymized member answers drawn from real experience.
12questions
46member answers
All questions: RFE and denials
- Can I stay in the US while preparing an RFE reply?An RFE by itself gives you no status: you can stay only while your current lawful status is valid, and that status has to be maintained separately. The usual pattern in the chat is to hold another status in advance (a student status or an extended tourist stay) so that a denial after the RFE does not leave you out of status. Switching to studies after a denial is risky: approval can take long, and you must apply from a lawful status.
- How should an RFE response be structured?There is no real template: you answer only what the officer asked for. Points he did not mention are considered accepted. The working structure from the chat: quote the objection, thank them for the specifics, present the data on that point (repeating it if it was already there) plus new evidence with references to exhibits, letters and articles, and conclude why the point should count. The key: everything must be clear from the response itself, without the officer having to open the exhibits.
- I-140 approved with no RFE response: an error?It happens and is not necessarily an error: another officer may have reviewed the case and decided the original evidence was enough. Members have seen similar cases in family petitions and PERM cases where the status flipped from RFE to approved the same day. The chat's advice: contact a live USCIS agent, confirm whether an approval notice was sent, and wait for the paper notice. Caveat: a case can sometimes be reopened, so celebrate once the paper arrives.
- Does premium processing raise the RFE risk?Opinions differ, but most consider it a myth: a denial must justify rejecting each document and takes longer than an approval, the officer's KPI is cases per allotted time, and premium only moves your petition forward in the queue. Some members allow that a time-pressed officer may find it easier to issue an RFE, after which the clock is no longer regulated, and mention RFEs arriving on the last premium day. Overall: if you can afford it, speed it up; without premium the chance of a strict officer is the same, but you wait about a year.
- Can a new criterion be added in an RFE response?Members who reviewed hundreds of RFEs sort them into types: a detailed analysis with specific objections that must be answered point by point, and a fixation on one error, where the petition is effectively rebuilt. A long RFE means the case was read carefully and is rather a good sign. In the response you need not answer every question literally; you can rebuild the criterion and show it from another angle, adding evidence for the evidence. Some members bring in a lawyer at the RFE stage with a letter citing laws and case practice.
- Nebraska or Texas: which center is tougher?You do not choose the center - USCIS assigns it by form type and filing location. Both appear in our set of challenged cases, but that set cannot measure strictness: it contains only cases that already drew a request or a refusal.
- What is a NOIR and how does it differ from a NOID?A NOID is an intent to deny a petition that has not been approved yet. A NOIR is an intent to revoke one that already was. A NOIR usually appears after a consulate returns the petition to USCIS.
- Which precedents do officers cite in an RFE or denial?We counted two ways. Across 183 whole notices (157 cases) the most mentioned are Kazarian (64), Matter of E-M- (49), Treasure Craft (38), Matter of Ho (24) and Chawathe (22). Inside individual criterion analyses (150 notices) Kazarian leads (17, 13 desks), while Chawathe, Izummi and Dhanasar never sit there.
- What does the officer number on a USCIS notice mean?The four-digit number on a notice identifies an adjudicating desk inside a service center, not a named person. Across the 74 desks in our set, desks weight the criteria differently - and that is the only thing the number tells you.
- Where do you send an RFE response, and can it go by email?An RFE response does not go by email. USCIS says explicitly not to mail such responses to a lockbox and to follow the instructions inside the request itself; a case filed online is answered in the online account. The original request page goes on top of the response.
- Why is the leading role most often not counted?Two reasons repeat across the parsed notices: the role is not shown to have been leading or critical - a title does not establish it - and the organisation's distinguished reputation is not documented against comparable entities. Across 1242 AAO decisions the criterion was counted in 41% of the cases where it was claimed: of 624 such cases it survived in 256.
- How do you withdraw a petition after an RFE?In writing, any time before a decision, including instead of answering an RFE. It cannot be undone, the fee is kept and the priority date does not carry over.
Nearby on this site
Frequently asked questions
- Can I stay in the US while preparing an RFE reply?
- An RFE by itself gives you no status: you can stay only while your current lawful status is valid, and that status has to be maintained separately. The usual pattern in the chat is to hold another status in advance (a student status or an extended tourist stay) so that a denial after the RFE does not leave you out of status. Switching to studies after a denial is risky: approval can take long, and you must apply from a lawful status.
- How should an RFE response be structured?
- There is no real template: you answer only what the officer asked for. Points he did not mention are considered accepted. The working structure from the chat: quote the objection, thank them for the specifics, present the data on that point (repeating it if it was already there) plus new evidence with references to exhibits, letters and articles, and conclude why the point should count. The key: everything must be clear from the response itself, without the officer having to open the exhibits.
- I-140 approved with no RFE response: an error?
- It happens and is not necessarily an error: another officer may have reviewed the case and decided the original evidence was enough. Members have seen similar cases in family petitions and PERM cases where the status flipped from RFE to approved the same day. The chat's advice: contact a live USCIS agent, confirm whether an approval notice was sent, and wait for the paper notice. Caveat: a case can sometimes be reopened, so celebrate once the paper arrives.
Other themes
- Process and timelines95 questions
- EB-1A66 questions
- The petition and formatting59 questions
- O-1 visa48 questions
- Consulate and interview42 questions
- Green card42 questions
- EB-2 NIW21 questions
- Articles and citations17 questions
- General questions16 questions
- Original contribution14 questions
- Document translations13 questions
- Awards12 questions
- Association membership12 questions
- Scientists12 questions
- Judging10 questions
- Media about you10 questions
- IT professionals8 questions
- Recommendation letters8 questions
- Choosing a category8 questions
- Salary and income7 questions
- Self-petition7 questions
- Founders and business5 questions
- Leading role5 questions
Reference information and community experience, not legal advice. The AAO figures are lessons from appeals, not approval odds; fees and timelines change - verify on uscis.gov.