On July 13, 2018 the USCISissued a memoindicates USCIS adjudicators now have full discretion to deny applications,petitions, and requests without first issuing an Request for Evidence (RFE) orNotice of Intent to Deny (NOID), when appropriate.
Applicants must include allrequired initial evidence, as listed in operating procedures, forminstructions, or regulations with their immigration petition orapplication. In some cases a second RFEor NOID may be issued. Reutersreports RFE and NOID issuance is up significantly in the last year.
Apart from RFEs, Officers havethe discretion to validate assertions or corroborate evidence and information submittedwith an immigration application by consulting USCIS or other governmentalfiles, systems, and databases, or by obtaining publically available informationthat is readily accessible.
It is unclear how strictly this newpolicy will be enforced. MU recommends employers work to get all documentationfor a case, including end-client documentation, upfront in the initial filingand advises employers to file extension cases as early as possible. MU encourages employers to closely review alltemplate language in support letters and immigration forms as well as on theemployer’s website and other publicly available information about the employer.