August 18, 2009
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has just reported that the Vermont Service Center (VSC) has just advised them that about 1000 Requests for Evidence (RFE) were prepared, but were never sent out due to an unknown Service error. These RFEs are dated June 4, 2009 and approximately 300 of these cases have been denied for failure to respond to the notices that were never delivered. However, the VSC will re-open these cases on its own and re-send the RFE to the proper recipients. If a motion was filed, VSC will refund the fee.
The VSC and AILA are suggesting that we refrain from filing a Motion to Reopen in these cases if it appears the RFE was sent on June 4, 2009. The VSC expects to have notified all the petitioners by August 31, 2009. VSC believes this snafu was isolated to June 4, 2009.
