There is a problem happening right now with USCIS Request for Evidence notices that is going to cause a significant number of immigration cases to be denied, and most of the people affected will not realize what happened until it is too late. The USCIS online portal, the my.uscis.gov account where applicants track their cases and download copies of government notices, is showing incorrect response deadlines for RFEs. The deadline on the online portal does not match the deadline on the actual written letter. And the deadline that counts is the one on the letter.
What is happening with RFE deadlines right now?
USCIS recently reduced the response window for Requests for Evidence from approximately 87 to 90 days to 30 to 33 days. This change took effect under the Trump administration and applies to most RFEs being issued right now. For applicants who receive an RFE today, the deadline to respond is typically 30 days from the date on the letter, or 33 days if the notice was sent by mail.
This is already a significant and stressful change from the prior three-month window. But what has now emerged is a problem that makes the compressed timeline even more dangerous for applicants who are not reading carefully.
In at least one confirmed case from our office, a Request for Evidence letter was issued with a due date of September 19th. The written letter, the physical document sent to the applicant, clearly stated that the response was due on September 19th. But when the same RFE was downloaded from the my.uscis.gov online portal, the system showed a deadline of November 15th, more than two months later. The online system had not been updated to reflect the actual 30-day deadline on the written notice. Instead it was displaying an older, longer timeline that no longer applies.
Why does this mismatch create such serious risk?
The risk is straightforward. Most applicants, especially those without immigration attorneys, check their case status and download documents through the my.uscis.gov portal. If an applicant downloads their RFE from the portal and sees a November deadline, they will reasonably assume they have until November to respond. They will use that time to gather documents, consult with attorneys, and prepare their response. They may not look at the physical letter at all, or if they do, they may not carefully compare the two dates.
When they submit their response before November 15th, believing they are well within the deadline, they will have missed the actual September 19th deadline by almost two months. And a missed RFE deadline is an automatic denial. There is no grace period. There is no opportunity to explain that the online portal showed a different date. The case is denied and the applicant faces the full consequences of that denial including potential out-of-status issues, immigration court proceedings, and all of the downstream consequences that flow from a denied case.
Arguing that the online portal showed a different deadline might eventually succeed in a lawsuit, but the path to that outcome involves significant legal costs, an indeterminate amount of time, and in the meantime the applicant may face immigration enforcement consequences that are impossible to put on hold while the lawsuit proceeds.
Where is the deadline actually listed on the RFE letter?
This is another problem. The deadline on an RFE is not consistently placed in the same location on every letter. Sometimes it appears in the final paragraph of the last page. Sometimes it appears in the second paragraph of the first page. It is not prominently highlighted or standardized in a way that makes it immediately obvious. Reading the entire letter carefully from beginning to end is the only way to be certain you have found the actual response deadline.
This is a situation where having an immigration attorney review the RFE immediately upon receipt provides critical protection. An attorney who handles immigration cases regularly knows to look for the deadline, knows where it may appear in the letter, and knows to compare the letter against what the online portal shows. For applicants without representation who are managing their own cases, missing this detail is a very real and very costly risk.
Are there other errors appearing on USCIS notices right now?
Yes. The deadline discrepancy is not the only type of error appearing on USCIS notices in the current environment. There have been instances of notices showing obviously incorrect dates, including years that have already passed, suggesting basic data entry errors in the systems generating these documents. USCIS is operating under an enormous administrative burden right now. The volume of rule changes, policy shifts, and system updates being implemented simultaneously has created conditions where errors are appearing with greater frequency than would normally be expected.
This does not excuse the errors or reduce their consequences for applicants. It does explain why they are happening. And it underscores the importance of reading every piece of official correspondence from USCIS carefully and completely rather than relying on the convenience of the online portal to provide accurate summaries.
What should you do right now?
If you have a pending immigration case and you receive an RFE, follow this process without exception. First, read the physical letter in full. Read every page. Find the deadline. Write it down. Second, check your my.uscis.gov account and look at the deadline shown there. Third, if the two dates do not match, treat the date on the physical letter as the controlling deadline and contact your immigration attorney immediately.
If you do not have an immigration attorney, find one as quickly as possible after receiving an RFE. The 30-day window is short enough that every day spent without professional guidance is a day of your response window that cannot be recovered.
Do not rely on the online portal as your primary source of deadline information. Read the letter.
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