Need Help: Request for Initial Evidence Message?

[DavidMalan]

Hello all! I am new to the site and in need of advice/help. Last year, I hired an immigration attorney to handle my finance visa application. We sent everything off and waited 7 months. Then today I received a notification of a “Request for Initial Evidence.” I am completely lost. I figured the attorney has done this a million times and would therefore dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. My question is what is the difference between a Request for INITIAL Evidence and a Request for ADDITIONAL Evidence? I thought the names said it all, but I’m reading a bunch of different (c xender. ontradictory) stuff on the internet. Now I’m confused and my fiancé is worried. The second question is does this mean another six months of waiting? I know no one can answer with certaint omegle y, but anecdotal evidence would at least give me an idea what to expect and how to proceed. I thank everyone in advance for helping a confused man.

[Tezza]

Request for Initial Evidence is the information required to make a determination on your case and to assess whether the person is eligible to receive the benefit. This is generally the evidence that the form instructions tell you that you must provide at minimum.

Do you not yet know what the evidence is? They usually specify, and give you a deadline - this is very important.

You can also go and look up the application on USCIS' website and open the instructions PDF that accompanies it, and check to see if there was anything missed. The bad news is, it will likely slow down your processing, as they stop adjudicating the case until a response is received. The good news however, is that the officer is giving you a chance to provide the evidence, rather than outright denying your case, which they are able to do.

If you provide the necessary evidence in a timely manner, and it addresses the issue(s) the officer has, then you will be just fine.

[Mike E]

Some RFEs produce a delay of just a month.