How Long Does USCIS Take to Respond to RFE

I would like to ask question regarding my I-140 approval. Chris, I-140 was filed in June 2022. And then I got an RFE, it's been four months already. And until now, no update, I want to know how long was an RFE, the RFE came cases should be responded by the USCIS.

Yeah, it's impossible to say. So an RFE can come for almost any reason. So for instance, if the RFE said please send us a copy of the nurses passport page, because the one that you've sent us is blurry, what will that can be responded to and you know, in however long it takes the nurse to send a PDF copy of a cleaner copy of the passport, the attorney to type out a very short letter or overnight courier it to the USCIS, the maybe a week or two. And that then it's only a week or two to respond. And if it's premium processing, as I know a bunch of you know, because I'm looking at the chats over here, that should be another 15 days and the case should be approved. That'd be about as simple an RFE as you can get. The complexities can be enormous. And so it completely depends on the RFE and the basis of the RFE. And so the only way to really answer that is not this forum, but it's to talk to your recruiter or your attorney or your employer to get a sense as to what the issue is and what kind of timing should be expected if, and this wasn't quite clear from the question, if she if the two other points, but one is, the RFEs have to be responded within 87 days.

However, for about two or three years since COVID, US government has issued a blanket extension of 60 more days, which makes it about 150 days. So what's that five months, which means, theoretically, if an RFE was issued today, November 11, we might not need to file a response before roughly April 11. Now, there's a reason the government gives that much time. And it's because sometimes they know that the documentation is complex. But again, if it's an example, like my, you know, blurry passport, you don't need to wait five months to respond. So that's one other thing to consider. Second thing to consider is if you're not under premium processing, so under Print, when the RFE is responded, US government will take 15 more days if the case is proven processing to issue the approval. Hopefully, if it's not under premium processing, then you know, ordinarily our international nursing agency sees 60 days or so but again, the last two or three years that has been warped a little bit. And so, you know, four months, I think would probably be about at the outer bound. And so the part that I wasn't quite sure from the question was, was it that the RFE was responded four months ago, or that the RFE was issued four months ago.

Okay, so, unfortunately, it just depends. Yeah. And I think for that question, really important to speak to your, your attorney and see how it pertains to your specific case.