This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
On August 5, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarified that applications for immigration benefits can be denied without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intent to Deny if “all required initial evidence” has not been submitted with the application.
USCIS noted that its form instructions “specify all required initial evidence for every benefit request, giving requestors all the information needed to comply.” The agency said that “prior policy allowed frivolous or substantially incomplete filings to slow USCIS processing for others waiting in line.” USCIS’s updated policy guidance (PDF) states that it targets “nefarious filing practices such as frivolous and placeholder filings to secure ancillary benefits.”
