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Managing Erroneous USCIS Rejections – Updated

In June we posted that USCIS was erroneously rejecting a concerning number of applications for immigration benefits. Unfortunately, this trend has not abated.

On April 1st USCIS transitioned to a new submission process for H-1B petitions, moving the submission of petitions from the service centers to centralized lockboxes. Unfortunately, the rollout of this transition has been far from seamless. We have seen USCIS return numerous petitions erroneously in the first two months of the new procedures.

For example, we have seen USCIS return petitions stating:

  • Boxes were not checked on the petition, when they were
  • Filing fees are missing, when the returned checks include those fees
  • Asking us to explain the purpose of a non-profit organization for a private for-profit company

Unfortunately, these rejections can have serious consequences when it comes to timely acquiring immigration benefits. USCIS typically takes at least 2-3 weeks to return a petition it rejects in the mail room. These rejections can delay the adjudication of petitions, start dates for new employees, and expected approvals for extensions.

To help combat the issue, the American Immigration Lawyers Association is collecting examples of returned petitions to continue to advocate about the issue to the agency. If you are the victim of an erroneously returned petition, please let us know if we can submit the petition as an example to advocate for resolution.

For more information, please reach out to your designated Meltzer Hellrung attorney.