US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is once again extending the period for issuance of communications allowing 60 days’ additional response time, first announced on March 30, 2020 as an accommodation during the COVID pandemic.

This extension comes as a welcome and somewhat unexpected relief, as USCIS had stated an intent to end the added flexibility for responses with regard to qualifying USCIS correspondence issued after July 25, 2022.  However, the agency has now announced – right on July 25 – an additional extension to qualifying agency communications issued up through October 23, 2022.

The original pronouncement allowed 60 additional days to respond to communications including Requests for Evidence, Notices of Intent to Deny, Notices of Intent to Revoke, and several other types of communications issued from March 1 to May 1, 2020.

We note that the 60-day additional response period, on top of the 30- or 87-day period normally granted, isn’t what’s being extended here.  All impacted communications are still getting only an additional 60 days from the otherwise stated response date.

The period during which these communications are issued – and so are getting the additional 60-day response time – is what’s being extended to October 23, 2022.