If you do not respond to a request that USCIS sends you, they’re going to deny your case automatically. It’s important to figure out whether it was actually received.

When you respond to the government, you always want to keep a copy of what you send in case it gets lost. But they actually want you to send the cover letter. The request for evidence itself gets put on top of your response so that it gets to the right place.

Sometimes people mail in a response and it never gets its way to their actual file because they didn’t put that cover letter back on the top. Send it through priority mail or FedEx so that you also have a receipt showing it arrived at the government office.

The government does not send you a notification in the mail. You’re not going to receive a mailed paper letter saying, “We got your information.” But what you can check your case status online through this USCIS Tool.

Input your receipt number for your application to track your case. Within a short period of time, you should see that changed to say they received your response. If you don’t see that happen, that’s the point where you would want to start calling the USCIS hotline.

Sometimes, it’s really hard to get information and can take a very long time on hold there but you’d want to make sure that they received it or if it just doesn’t seem like they may have received it. We even resend a copy and say it doesn’t appear this has been received a second time by tracking. In the very worst case scenario, you’d be able to appeal it if they denied it saying they didn’t receive your response.