On September 24, USCIS announced that it is once again extending the 60-day flexibility period of deadlines for responding to USCIS requests. This is the ninth time USCIS has announced such an extension.
On March 30, 2020, USCIS announced that it would consider responses submitted up to 60 days after the original response due date listed on the agency’s notice. The new 60-day flexibility period would apply to any request, notice, or decision issued within a certain time frame – originally, this time frame was March 1, 2020, to May 1, 2020.
The decision came in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, in order for USCIS to “assist applicants and petitioners” as well as “to protect [USCIS’s] workforce and community, and to minimize the immigration consequences for those seeking immigration benefits during this time.”
Each extension of this March 2020 announcement has renewed the 60-day flexibility policy and extended the applicable time frame, usually by two to three months. According to this most recent extension, the 60-day flexibility policy will apply to a notice/request/decision issued between March 1, 2020, and January 15, 2022. This changes USCIS’s last extension announcement, issued on June 24, which listed the time frame as ending September 30, 2021.
The full text of the September 24 USCIS News Alert may be found here.
If you have questions about the USCIS flexibility policy or other immigration-related topics, contact us at ILBSG. We are here to work with you to ensure you get the right advice.
