Notice of Intent to Revoke

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A Notice of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) is a communication sent by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to a petitioner about a previously approved petition, telling him or her that the USCIS intends to revoke the petition, along with the reasons for revocation, and giving the petitioner a fixed amount of time to respond. [1] NOIRs may be issued for immigrant visa petitions (such as Form I-130 and Form I-140) [1] and for non-immigrant visa petitions (such as Form I-129 and Form I-129F). [2]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was dissolved by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and replaced by three components within the DHS: USCIS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Form I-130 Form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services by a United States citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident petitioning for an immediate or close relative intending to immigrate to the United States.

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services by a United States citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident petitioning for an immediate or close relative intending to immigrate to the United States. It is one of numerous USCIS immigration forms. As with all USCIS petitions, the person who submits the petition is called the petitioner and the relative on whose behalf the petition is made is called the beneficiary. The USCIS officer who evaluates the petition is called the adjudicator.

Form I-140 I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker

Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by a prospective employer to petition an alien to work in the US on a permanent basis. This is done in the case when the worker is deemed extraordinary in some sense or when qualified workers do not exist in the US. The employer who files is called the petitioner, and the alien employee is called the beneficiary; these two can coincide in the case of a self-petitioner. The form is 6 pages long with a separate 10-page instructions document as of 2016. It is one of the USCIS immigration forms.

Contents

Response protocol

The NOIR is sent to, and the response must be sent by, the petitioner (or an attorney representing the petitioner, if the petitioner is using an attorney) rather than the beneficiary. A copy may be sent to the beneficiary for information.

If the petitioner responds within the specified time, then the petitioner's response is considered when making a final decision on whether to revoke the petition. Otherwise, the petition is revoked once the specified time is over. An extension may be granted at the discretion of USCIS if the petitioner needs additional time to obtain documentation from abroad or for other meritorious reasons; however, the petitioner must respond in a timely manner to the NOIR by the stated deadline, and provide a reason for requesting the extra time. [1]

Steps

The petition is returned for revocation/revalidation (usually by a consular officer)

The NOIR is generally issued when new evidence is presented to the USCIS suggesting that the petition was approved in error (i.e., it should not have been approved) or there has been a change in circumstances making the petition no longer approvable. The most common impetus for issuing a NOIR is that a consular officer (an employee of the United States Department of State) evaluating the beneficiary's visa application based on an approved petition comes across evidence suggesting that the petition should not have been approved, or is no longer approvable. [1] The consular officer issues a Section 221(g) quasi-refusal to the visa applicant, and returns the petition to USCIS for revocation/revalidation, along with the reasons the consular officer believes the petition should not have been approved or is no longer approvable. [1] Petitions relating to non-immigrant visas (such as Form I-129 and Form I-129F) are returned to the Kentucky Service Center whereas petitions related to immigrant visas (such as Form I-130 and Form I-140) are returned to the National Visa Center. [2]

United States Department of State United States federal executive department responsible for foreign affairs

The United States Department of State (DOS), commonly referred to as the State Department, is the federal executive department that advises the President and conducts international relations. Equivalent to the foreign ministry of other countries, it was established in 1789 as the nation's first executive department.

Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services used by employers or prospective employers to obtain a worker on a nonimmigrant visa status. Form I-129 is used to either file for a new status or a change of status, such as new, continuing or changed employer or title; or an amendment to the original application. Approval of the form makes the worker eligible to start or continue working at the job if already in the United States. If the worker is not already in the United States, an approved Form I-129 may be used to submit a visa application associated with that status. The form is 36 pages long and the instructions for the form are 29 pages long. It is one of the many USCIS immigration forms.

The National Visa Center (NVC) is a center that is part of the U.S. Department of State that plays the role of holding United States immigrant visa petitions approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services until an immigrant visa number becomes available for the petition, at which point it arranges for the visa applicant(s) to take the visa interview at a consulate abroad. It is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was established in 1994 on the site of an Air Force base that was closed down by The Pentagon.

The USCIS forwards the petition to the original Service Center and updates the case status

The returned petition is sent to the Service Center where the original petition was processed and a USCIS officer is assigned with the task of re-adjudicating the petition in light of the reasons for returning it. Information about the petition is updated in the USCIS system so that it is reflected in the Case Status Online as well as available to the National Customer Service Center. The petitioner is also notified of the petition being returned. [2] [3]

After an initial re-adjudication, the USCIS revalidates the petition, issues a NOIR, or issues a Notice of Automatic Revocation

After re-adjudicating the petition, the USCIS may either refuse to take any revocation action, issue a NOIR, or issue a Notice of Automatic Revocation. [1] [2] [3] If the USCIS revalidates the petition (either directly, or after receiving additional information from the petitioner in response to the NOID), then the same visa application can be resumed with the new information.

After receiving the petitioner's response to the NOIR, the USCIS officer makes an adjudication decision

After receiving the response from the petitioner, the USCIS officer decides whether to revalidate the petition or revoke it. If the USCIS revokes the petition, the corresponding visa application is definitively denied. If the USCIS revalidates the petition, the information is sent back to the consular officer who should then continue processing the original visa application.

Processing timeline and uncertainty

In 2007, Prakash Khatri, the USCIS ombudsman, sought comments from petitioners and beneficiaries on how to improve the system surrounding consular returns of petitions. The chief complaint by petitioners and beneficiaries was the lack of transparency about what was going on between the time the consular officer returned the petition to the USCIS and the USCIS issuing a NOIR, and this uncertainty often led to the filing of multiple duplicate petitions, thereby increasing costs for petitioners and creating an unnecessary caseload for the USCIS. The following recommendations were made: [3] [2]

Relationship with RFE and NOID

There are two other kinds of communication that the USCIS uses for petitions: the Request For Evidence (RFE) and the Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). The RFE and NOID differ from the NOIR in one important respect: the RFE and NOID are used for petitions still being adjudicated (i.e., ones that have not yet been approved) whereas the NOIR is used for petitions that have been approved.

In particular, even after the NOIR is issued, the corresponding petition is still considered approved right until the point when it is revoked.

Another difference between NOIRs and the other two is that there are no standard processing timelines for how much time it should take between receiving a returned petition and issuing a NOIR, but there are guidelines on standard processing times for the "initial review" that should end in approval, denial, RFE, or NOID. [2] [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Immigrant Visa Petitions Returned by the State Department Consular Offices". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chodorow, Gary (July 17, 2008). "Update: Consular Recommendations to Revoke Visa Petitions". U.S. & China Visa Law Blog. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Recommendations on the Processing of Petitions that are Returned by the U.S. Department of State for Revocation/Revalidation" (PDF). August 24, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
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