What to Do If You Did Not Receive a USCIS I-797 Approval Notice

USPS's unreliability has been complained about by many, but unfortunately, U.S. government agencies use USPS to send documents, and the probability of loss is very random. You may have received all previous documents normally, but the final and most important approval notice never arrives, which may cause problems such as employees being unable to onboard, driver's licenses not received affecting travel, or even inability to prove one's legal status.

Although you can file Form I-824 to request a duplicate approval notice or document, filing Form I-824 costs $465, and the current processing times for I-824 applications at USCIS's five service centers are 4.5 months, 14 months, 16 months, and 18.5 months, respectively. Before taking this step, you might try the following methods to resolve the issue on your own.

Please note that these steps must be carried out by the petitioner or their attorney. For H1b holders, the petitioner of Form I-129 is the company, so the process of contacting USCIS must be handled by the company or its attorney/legal department. If it is another I-797 notice and you are the petitioner, you can use the methods below to request a reissuance yourself.

Step 1: Confirm whether the letter has been lost

If you suspect that the USCIS approval notice was lost in the mail, the first thing is to confirm that it is indeed lost. I suggest you go to the post office to inquire; it may have been left undelivered at the post office or mistakenly delivered to the wrong address.

If the post office forgot to deliver it, that's simple: you just need to provide ID and the post office can hand the letter directly to you. If it's the latter—delivered to the wrong address—then it depends on the conscience of that resident. A normal person who sees a misdelivered USCIS letter (or any misdelivered mail) and knows it's an important document will either write "wrong address" on the envelope and drop it back in the mailbox, or kindly deliver it to the correct address (if it's not far). I have received a package returned by a kind person.

Step 2: If you applied for premium processing...

If you are certain the letter is lost (i.e., the post office confirms delivery but you did not receive it), and your case was filed with premium processing, the next step is to contact the processing service center directly and request that they resend the notice. Note: they are not obligated to do so and may refuse; but based on what we have learned, they are often willing to help (possibly because they understand that since you paid for premium processing, you are indeed in a hurry). The service center's contact information can be found on previous receipts or letters.

Step 3: If you did not apply for premium processing, submit an e-Request

If your case was not filed with premium processing, you can check on this webpage whether your case has been approved. When your case is approved but you have not received the approval notice for a long time, you can submit an e-request with the reason "did not receive notice by mail." USCIS will respond within 30 days.

In many cases, USCIS's reply is just a template—telling you to file Form I-824 and pay the fee. However, you can try calling the USCIS customer service number (1-800-375-5283) and ask to speak with a second-level officer.

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Step 4: When e-Request and customer service both fail...

If you are lucky enough to get a response from a second-level officer, but they still mechanically tell you to file Form I-824 and pay the fee, then you have these two steps left to take.

1. Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request

Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to USCIS via https://first.uscis.gov. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives anyone the right to request access to records from U.S. government executive branch agencies. When submitting a FOIA request, be sure to answer the questions on the form as detailed as possible to help USCIS locate the documents you are requesting. This step can be done by the individual, the company, or their attorney.

2. Contact the DHS Ombudsman

You can also contact the DHS Ombudsman for case assistance. The DHS Ombudsman is a good helper for resolving certain case problems with USCIS, but only after you have first sought help from USCIS and that help was unsuccessful. Therefore, you must have tried submitting an e-Request and calling the USCIS 1-800 customer service number without success before you can contact the Ombudsman. Information about what problems the DHS Ombudsman can help with can be found here. Non-receipt of USCIS notices or decisions is one of the situations they can help with.

When filling out DHS Form 7001, it is equally important to provide as much detail and evidence as possible showing that you tried to resolve the issue with USCIS through e-Request and the 1-800 number but were still unable to get it resolved. The Ombudsman will review your request and let you know whether they can provide assistance in a short time. Many successful cases show that with the help of the DHS Ombudsman, applicants quickly received a reissued approval notice.

Last resort: File Form I-824

If everything fails, you will need to file Form I-824 with USCIS to request a reissued approval notice. It is important to try the above methods first because Form I-824 not only requires a $465 filing fee but also may have a long processing time—currently the slowest Nebraska Service Center takes 18.5 months!—and it will be a long time before you receive the reissued approval notice.

Except for EAD cards, USCIS sends approval notices by standard USPS mail without tracking numbers, which is why letters are sometimes lost. Following the steps above may help you obtain a new copy of the lost approval notice without filing Form I-824 and save the $465.