Iandoli Desai & Cronin 7/6/21 Iandoli Desai & Cronin 7/6/21

USCIS Extends Flexibility for Responding to Agency Requests

In response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it is extending the flexibilities it announced on March 30, 2020, to assist applicants, petitioners and requestors who are responding to certain:

Requests for Evidence;
Continuations to Request Evidence (N-14);
Notices of Intent to Deny;
Notices of Intent to Revoke;
Notices of Intent to Rescind;
Notices of Intent to Terminate regional centers; and
Motions to Reopen an N-400 Pursuant to 8 CFR 335.5, Receipt of Derogatory Information After Grant.

In addition, USCIS will consider a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion or Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), if:

The form was filed up to 60 calendar days from the issuance of a USCIS decision; and
USCIS made that decision anytime from March 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.

Notice/Request/Decision Issuance Date: This flexibility applies to the above documents if the issuance date listed on the request, notice or decision is between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, inclusive of those dates.

Response Due Date: USCIS will consider a response to the above requests and notices received within 60 calendar days after the response due date set in the request or notice before taking any action. Additionally, USCIS will consider a Form N-336 or Form I-290B received up to 60 calendar days from the date of the decision before they take any action.

Iandoli Desai & Cronin 7/6/21 Iandoli Desai & Cronin 7/6/21

USCIS Announces Lockbox Filing Flexibilities

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will continue to offer filing flexibilities to provide relief to certain applicants and petitioners impacted by delays at a USCIS lockbox. These flexibilities only apply to benefit requests submitted to a USCIS lockbox and not to USCIS service centers or field offices. The following temporary flexibilities are effective for 60 days from June 10 until Aug. 9, 2021:

If you submitted a benefit request to a USCIS lockbox between October 1, 2020, and April 1, 2021, and that request was rejected during that timeframe solely due to a filing fee payment that expired while the benefit request was awaiting processing, you may resubmit the request with a new fee payment. If USCIS concurs that it has rejected the benefit request because of the delay, USCIS will deem the request to have been received on the initial filing date it was first received and waive the $30 dishonored check fee.

USCIS will allow applicants and petitioners to submit documentation with a benefit request resubmission demonstrating that because of the time that elapsed between when a benefit request was originally submitted to a USCIS lockbox and when USCIS rejected it, an applicant, co-applicant, beneficiary or derivative has reached an age that makes them no longer eligible to file for the benefit requested. If USCIS agrees that the delayed rejection caused the person to be ineligible due to age, USCIS will accept the request and deem it to have been received on the date the initial benefit request was received. This flexibility does not apply to Form N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322.

Applicants and petitioners can contact USCIS to verify previously filed benefit requests have not been rejected in error. If USCIS agrees, applicants and petitioners may be allowed to resubmit an erroneously rejected benefit request and USCIS will deem the benefit request to have been received on the date the initial benefit request was first received at a USCIS lockbox.