Received an RFE that has No Requirements Specified

[meidxo 5]

Hello, on May 8th, we received an RFE that does not specify what they want from us.

We've submitted an online typo report to USCIS website, but have not received any responses.

We have also tried Emma, where the agent created a ticket number for us and told us to wait for up to 10 business days for a response.

After that, we also tried to call the USCIS support number, where the agent said this was the first time she's seen this happen, and created another ticket and told us to wait for a Tier 2 Agent to contact us.

It has been over 15 business days since they sent the "Receipt Notice" of our inquiry and we have not gotten anything from them.

 

Has anyone here encountered something similar? What should be our next steps? It's really hard to get a hold of someone from USCIS

Thank you in advance for any insight on this

 

***Our I-485 has updated to ACTIVELY REVIEWING last May 29th, but I know we still need to address the RFE Notice they sent on May 8th.

***We have attached the RFE letter below (2 pages)

 

[Family 3,842]

It’s clearly an error. You have alerted USCIS and they will deal with it in due course, no need to worry. 
 

You can also simply respond to this RFE with a short letter ex : Response to RFE dated xyz, case no, name , A#. 
Service Error. Above ref RFE was issued in error as it fails to list any additional documentation required. Attempts to contact USCIS have yet to be addressed , see enclosed service request. 

[meidxo 5]

14 minutes ago, Family said:

It’s clearly an error. You have alerted USCIS and they will deal with it in due course, no need to worry. 
 

You can also simply respond to this RFE with a short letter ex : Response to RFE dated xyz, case no, name , A#. 
Service Error. Above ref RFE was issued in error as it fails to list any additional documentation required. Attempts to contact USCIS have yet to be addressed , see enclosed service request. 

 

Thank you so much for your advice! We really appreciate it

[OldUser 6,170]

Looks like a sneaky ping from USCIS. Definitely reply, as these guys can deny you for not replying to empty RFE...

[EatBulaga 311]

@meidxo Although we did not receive such an ambiguous RFE, I suggest taking full advantage of the RFE and being more proactive instead of dismissing the RFE as an error or responding with the assumption of a USCIS error.

 

My rationale is anytime you can interact with USCIS, seize the opportunity to provide more instead of less. Instead of providing just enough to get it approved, provide more than enough so that it can not be denied.

 

So I would respond with a copy of ALL pages of the RFE letter as instructed, and then proceed to include more co-mingling evidence from March to July 2024 since your AOS was submitted in March 2024. If you don't have more evidence, then use this time wisely to add your foreign spouse to your car title, health insurance, utility bills, authorized credit card user, joint bank accounts, etc., or take more pics with your family and friends, etc. Write a cover letter saying that since the RFE did not specify what information to include, you are therefore including the following copies of bona fide relationship and marriage life...

 

Also, I would upload the copies to your USCIS online account as instructed in the RFE letter.

 

So I would take full advantage of this RFE in hopes of shortening the approval time instead of dismissing the RFE which might lead to a longer wait time or even possible denial. Good luck with however you decide to respond.

Edited June 21 by EatBulaga

[Family 3,842]

35 minutes ago, EatBulaga said:

Write a cover letter saying that since the RFE did not specify what information to include, you are therefore including the following copies of bona fide relationship and marriage life..

I am a big fan of out of the box creative thinking….but in this case mind reading USCIS will not solve issue. …as RFE s are issued for a multitude of reasons:

a missing box check in the form

deficient I-864

translation of civil docs issue

boo boo on the sealed medical..

 

A 2nd RFE with the missing verbiage will be sent once they get to review and correct the unintended ( human ) error
 

[EatBulaga 311]

3 hours ago, Family said:

I am a big fan of out of the box creative thinking….but in this case mind reading USCIS will not solve issue. …as RFE s are issued for a multitude of reasons:

a missing box check in the form

deficient I-864

translation of civil docs issue

boo boo on the sealed medical..

 

A 2nd RFE with the missing verbiage will be sent once they get to review and correct the unintended ( human ) error

Not necessarily mind reading USCIS...

More about not wasting document preparation time or not wasting the opportunity to upload more information to USCIS.

 

If the RFE is about missing verbiage and the correction is to be sent later, then nothing is lost in preparing for the extra co-mingling evidence to support a bona fide relationship since those will still be needed for the AOS interview or ROC interview anyway.

 

If the RFE is NOT about missing verbiage or correction is not sent later, then the extra co-mingling evidence to support a bona fide relationship at least shows an attempt to fulfill the RFE, which the evidence can still be used later for the AOS interview or ROC interview.

 

Given that the OP @meidxo had limited time from US entry 2024-01 to AOS submission 2024-03, probably adding 4 more months of co-mingling evidence could not hurt--better than doing nothing and waiting for USCIS to correct their mistake.

 

But suppose the RFE response to USCIS is that you made a mistake, then USCIS could come back with 1 of 2 responses: 1) You are correct, and here is what we are really asking, or 2) You are incorrect and you still need to provide more information. In both cases, the wait time is extended.

 

In our infamous I-693 COURTESY EMAIL of 2023,

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/798091-request-for-form-i-693-courtesy-email/

Instead of waiting for an RFE, we used the opportunity to go ahead and submit the I-693 and added 9 more months of bona fide relationship evidence. Others may have gotten the same approval without the I-693 or without submitting more evidence, but that was a risk we did not want to assume given the downside of more wait time.

 

At the very least @meidxo should know all the options to make the decision best for their case.

 

Edited June 22 by EatBulaga

[meidxo 5]

Thank you so much for all the input you guys! We really appreciate it and will definitely look into all these options and course of action. We are planning to call and follow up, and also respond to the RFE itself on Monday and will keep all your suggestions in mind, thank you!

Here's to hoping the AOS case moves forward and positively anyways ❤️ 

[EatBulaga 311]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:51 PM, meidxo said:

Thank you so much for all the input you guys! We really appreciate it and will definitely look into all these options and course of action. We are planning to call and follow up, and also respond to the RFE itself on Monday and will keep all your suggestions in mind, thank you!

Here's to hoping the AOS case moves forward and positively anyways ❤️ 

Please post updates so others can learn from your case. Thanks 👍 

[meidxo 5]

On 6/29/2024 at 9:57 AM, EatBulaga said:

Please post updates so others can learn from your case. Thanks 👍 

Yep! We just uploaded our RFE response with a letter requesting the correct RFE letter from them since the first one is missing key information;

Our AOS status changed to "Response to RFE Received" immediately after uploading the response & RFE letter

Will update here once we receive a response from them or once they update our case! 👍

[meidxo 5]

Hello all! Just updating about our situation 😃 We submitted our response to their RFA last June 26th, 2024 (we just sent a letter saying their RFE is blank/missing key information about what they want from us -- and we submitted screenshots of our attempts to contact USCIS about it but have received no response since) -- there is no updates after that (Just the status changing to "RFE Response Received"

 

But today, August 11th, 2024 we received notice that my husband's AOS application has been approved with no interview needed! Yay!

[nastra30 2,246]

2 hours ago, meidxo said:

Hello all! Just updating about our situation 😃 We submitted our response to their RFA last June 26th, 2024 (we just sent a letter saying their RFE is blank/missing key information about what they want from us -- and we submitted screenshots of our attempts to contact USCIS about it but have received no response since) -- there is no updates after that (Just the status changing to "RFE Response Received"

 

But today, August 11th, 2024 we received notice that my husband's AOS application has been approved with no interview needed! Yay!

Congrats