Your USCIS Decision Arrived: What to Do in the First 30 Days if You Were Denied, Approved With Problems, or Sent to Immigration Court

A denial notice states the reason. It also states, directly, whether you can appeal, whether you can ask USCIS to reopen or reconsider, or whether neither option exists for that form.

Read that paragraph first. It controls the next section of this page.

An approval is not the end of the file. If anything in it was exaggerated, mistaken, or false, the approval can still be reopened later, when you apply for the next benefit or for citizenship. The section below on approved-but-flawed cases covers what that means.

For most affirmative asylum applicants who lack lawful status, USCIS does not deny the case outright. It refers the application to an immigration judge, along with a Notice to Appear, the charging document that starts removal proceedings (8 CFR § 208.14(c)(1)).

The judge then decides the asylum application in court.

Routine USCIS notices go to you and to the attorney of record on file, both, at their last known addresses (8 CFR § 103.8(a)(1)).

If your case was filed by Alexandra Lozano Immigration Law, or by the firm that took over its cases after her office closed, a decision may have gone to an office that no longer exists.

USCIS's own alert to her former clients, dated June 26, 2026, states that the office closed June 10, 2026. It covers address updates, withdrawal requests, and A-file access through a FOIA request. See our page for former clients of Alexandra Lozano Immigration Law.

The clock on a mailed decision runs from the mailing date, not the date the notice is read, so it can keep running while a notice sits at a closed office.

You can check a case's status directly: the USCIS online case-status tool, the EOIR automated case information system for court cases, or a FOIA request for the complete file.

For most denials that can be appealed, including U petitions (Form I-918), VAWA self-petitions and most other Form I-360 cases, I-601 and I-212 waivers, and I-129F fiancé petitions, the appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office must reach USCIS within 30 calendar days of the decision, or 33 calendar days if the decision was mailed (8 CFR § 103.3(a)(2)(i); 8 CFR § 103.8(b)).

The same 30 days, 33 if mailed, applies to a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider on Form I-290B (8 CFR § 103.5(a)(1)(i)).

Revocation of an already-approved immigrant petition carries a shorter window: 15 days to appeal, 18 if mailed (8 CFR § 205.2).

Some denials carry no appeal at all. No appeal exists for an I-485 adjustment denial, though it can be renewed later in removal proceedings if the applicant is not an arriving alien (8 CFR § 245.2(a)(5)(ii)). An I-765 work-permit denial cannot be appealed either, only a motion (8 CFR § 274a.13(c)). A DACA denial has neither an appeal nor a motion (8 CFR § 236.23(c)(3)).

An I-130 petition for a relative, or an I-360 petition filed as a widow(er) of a U.S. citizen, goes to the Board of Immigration Appeals, not the AAO, on Form EOIR-29, within 30 days of service (8 CFR § 1003.3(a)(2)); whether the usual 3 mailing days add to that window has not been confirmed on this form, so we state 30 days and tell every client to check the notice.

A naturalization denial goes to an administrative hearing on Form N-336, filed within 30 days of the denial, or 33 if it was mailed (8 CFR § 336.2(a)).

The notice controls. Count every deadline with a lawyer.

Which path makes sense, an appeal, a motion to reopen, a motion to reconsider, or a fresh filing, depends on why USCIS denied the case. We do not recommend one path before reading the decision and the underlying file together.

A denial can affect more than the application itself. Whether an associated work permit stays valid depends on its category and the filing it was tied to, so no blanket answer covers every case.

A denial can also affect unlawful presence calculations. USCIS may issue a Notice to Appear after a denial when it considers the person removable. It broadened its guidance on when it does so in 2025.

If the denial reason is a misrepresentation finding, a frivolous-asylum finding, or another statutory bar, the next filing has to account for it before anything else happens. Our page on correcting a false statement in a USCIS file covers that ground in depth; we are not re-explaining those grounds here. A reader who has only received a Request for Evidence, with no decision yet, is at an earlier stage of the same case, and that calls for its own conversation with a lawyer.

Confirm three things on the Notice to Appear itself: the court location, the hearing date if one is listed, and your Alien Registration Number.

If you move, you have to update your address twice. Form EOIR-33 goes to the immigration court within 5 days of any change (8 CFR § 1003.15(d)(2)). A separate address update goes to USCIS, within 10 days (INA § 265(a)).

An immigration judge can order removal in absentia if proper notice was given and the person does not appear. Rescinding that order through a motion to reopen has to happen within 180 days if the failure to appear was due to exceptional circumstances, or at any time if the person can show they never received proper notice, or that they were in federal or state custody through no fault of their own (INA § 240(b)(5)(C); 8 CFR § 1003.23(b)(4)(ii)). Our post on a mailed notice to the wrong address, Matter of Diji, covers one version of that fact pattern.

A referral is not a final denial. The asylum officer did not grant the application, and an immigration judge now decides it in removal proceedings (8 CFR § 208.14(c)(1)).

We describe it as the case moving to a new decision-maker, because the regulation does not use the word "restart," and we have not located a published decision that resolves exactly how much of the USCIS record carries forward.

Depending on the facts, a lawyer may find that withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, asylum itself, a § 212(i) waiver paired with adjustment of status, or a U or T nonimmigrant waiver still fits the case.

Our page on correcting a false statement before a USCIS interview walks through those paths and their conditions in full. For what the first hearing itself generally looks like, see our guide to navigating the immigration court process.

Some readers in this situation already have a judge's decision, not a USCIS decision.

An appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals goes on Form EOIR-26 and must reach the Board within 30 calendar days of the judge's oral decision, or of the mailing or electronic notice of a written decision (8 CFR § 1003.38(b)). The Board counts the day it receives the appeal as the filing date, not the day it was sent (8 CFR § 1003.38(c)).

In February 2026 the Justice Department published a rule cutting that window to 10 days for most decisions. A federal court in Washington, D.C. set that part of the rule aside on March 8, 2026, before it took effect (Amica Center for Immigrant Rights v. EOIR, No. 26-cv-696 (D.D.C.)). The 10-day text still appears in the online Code of Federal Regulations, which is one more reason to count this deadline with a lawyer.

A motion to reconsider a final order must be filed within 30 days of the order, and a motion to reopen within 90 days. Each is generally limited to one, with exceptions such as reopening an asylum claim based on changed country conditions (8 CFR § 1003.23(b)(1), (b)(4)(i)).

See our page on Board of Immigration Appeals advocacy and our post on the one-motion limit set by Matter of M-M-L-J-.

It depends on what USCIS denied. Most appealable denials, including U petitions, VAWA self-petitions, and I-601 and I-212 waivers, carry a 30-day window to USCIS's Administrative Appeals Office, 33 days if the decision was mailed. Revocations of an approved petition carry 15 days, 18 if mailed. Some decisions, including I-485 adjustment denials, I-765 work-permit denials, and DACA denials, cannot be appealed at all. The notice you received states which rule applies to your case, and that notice controls over any general number on this page. When we review a decision, we count the deadline from the date on the notice itself.

A denial by itself does not put you in immigration court. For most people, removal proceedings start with a Notice to Appear, which puts the case before an immigration judge. USCIS may issue a Notice to Appear after a denial when it considers the person removable, and it broadened its guidance on when it does so in 2025. Some people can be removed without seeing a judge at all, including people who already have a prior removal order, because that order can be reinstated (INA § 241(a)(5)). That is why a lawyer reviewing a denial generally asks for the complete immigration history, along with any arrest or criminal-court paperwork, not just the latest notice.

It depends on the category of the work permit and the filing it was tied to, so no single answer covers every case. A work permit issued under one category can end for reasons that have nothing to do with a denial in a different filing, and a permit tied directly to the denied application may or may not survive it. Bring the permit itself, along with the denial notice, to a consultation so a lawyer can trace the connection between the two.

Routine USCIS mail goes to both the applicant and the attorney of record, at their last known addresses. If your prior lawyer's office closed, a notice may have gone there anyway, and the deadline on it may have already started running from the mailing date. Check your case status directly through the USCIS online tool, the EOIR automated case information system if your case is in court, or a FOIA request for your complete file, rather than waiting for mail that may never arrive.

Not automatically. USCIS's alert of June 26, 2026 reports that the firm's office closed on June 10, 2026, but pending cases stay open and stay subject to their own deadlines, whether they were filed through Alexandra Lozano Immigration Law or the firm that took over its caseload. A denial, a referral to court, or a flawed approval does not by itself end the case. Finding out exactly what happened, and when, gives a new lawyer the most room to respond.