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The average RFE response processing time is 90 days. RFE premium processing time is 15 Days with virtually no time limit for regular applications.
USCIS Request for Evidence Review – RFE processing times vary widely with each case individually. H1B RFE and L1 visa RFE are the most common but, can be made in any visa application type.
USCIS’s official guideline is to respond to RFE within 60 days after your RFE response submission. The 60-day clock starts on the day USCIS receives your RFE response. The total H1B processing time will increase if your employer takes the full 60 days to respond to RFE.
How long USCIS takes to respond to RFE varies widely on a case-to-case basis along with USCIS’s workload. USCIS can even deny an application without RFE now.
The USCIS status online will show as ‘RFE Response Review‘ or ‘Request for Evidence Response Review‘.
You can expedite the response by upgrading your application to Premium Processing.
This article will discuss:
RFE Response Time in Premium – 15 days
USCIS premium processing RFE response is 15 calendar days including weekends. The premium clock stops when USCIS issues RFE and waits till you respond.
USCIS status will be: We stopped the 15-day premium processing clock for your case. The premium timer starts again on the date USCIS receives your RFE response.
You can upgrade your regular application to a premium at the time of submitting an RFE response. USCIS will refund your Premium processing fees if they decide on your case before they receive your premium request.
Upgrade to Premium results in RFE?
Upgrading your H1B case to a premium does not increase the chances of RFE. Do not worry. It’s a rumor. If the RFE has to be issued on your case, USCIS will issue it in regular processing as well.
Usually, people who are asking questions about RFE on forums are the ones whose employer has not submitted complete paperwork. Direct approval without RFE cases does not get reported as much as RFE cases. Hence, you get the impression that upgrading to premium resulted in RFE. This is not true.
I always recommend going for a premium to receive your results faster and get peace of mind.
You cannot upgrade your application to premium if USCIS has suspended premium processing.
Fastest and Slowest RFE review response?
The fastest RFE response is 15 days with Premium processing.
The average RFE response processing time is 90-120 days.
The slowest RFE time has no limits. We know of people who have waited for even a year for an RFE review response.
USCIS RFE again on RFE Response time
It is possible to get the second RFE after the RFE response submission. You should respond within 60 days to your RFE.
The USCIS resets its clock to start counting 60 days (15 days in case of Premium processing) as and when you submit an RFE response.
RFE Response Review Pending for More Than 6 Months?
Many cases are sent for security checks to the FBI and other government agencies. If your case is one of them, then there is no time limit for the RFE response review.
You can call USCIS and they will mention the reason for the delay as ‘Security check pending’.
USCIS does not honor the premium processing time of 15 days in case of security clearance. There is no way to expedite this case. Your only option is to wait.
