Forms

Form I-797

Also called I-797, I-797A, I-797C, receipt notice, approval notice, Notice of Action.

Form I-797 is not a form anyone completes but the family of notices USCIS sends about a case, a plain I-797 plus suffixes A to F, each carrying a different message, from a receipt to a request for evidence.

What it decides

USCIS states that a plain I-797 communicates receipt or approval, that I-797C communicates receipt or rejection, file transfers, biometrics, interview and rescheduled appointments, other actions and reopened cases, that I-797B approves an alien worker petition, that I-797D accompanies a benefit card, that I-797E requests evidence, and that I-797F is a transportation letter issued overseas. I-797A is issued as a replacement Form I-94. In EB-5 the one that matters is the receipt notice for a timely Form I-829, because 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1)(i) extends conditional resident status automatically on receipt of a properly filed petition, and since January 2023 USCIS has printed a 48 month extension on those notices. It is not a travel document on its own: under 8 CFR 211.1(a)(5) a returning conditional resident presents the expired Form I-551 accompanied by that filing receipt, issued within the previous six months, after an absence of less than one year.

Governed by USCIS, Form I-797: Types and Functions, last reviewed 24 January 2025, for the chart of types; 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1)(i) for the automatic extension of conditional resident status on receipt of a properly filed I-829; 8 CFR 211.1(a)(5) for what a returning conditional resident must present, which the regulation still limits to a filing receipt issued within the previous six months and an absence of less than one year; USCIS, Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence for Entrepreneurs (Investors), last reviewed 23 January 2023 and still carrying the alert as live guidance, for the 48 month figure. Note that the six months in the regulation and the 48 months on the notice have never been reconciled.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into form i-797 rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Extension noticeAn extension notice is the Form I-797 receipt USCIS issues on a properly filed Form I-829 which, carried together with the expired conditional Green Card, is evidence of continued conditional permanent resident status, of work authorization and of the right to return after temporary travel abroad.
Request for EvidenceA Request for Evidence, or RFE, is a written USCIS notice that the record as filed does not establish eligibility and that named further evidence must reach USCIS by a stated deadline, which can never exceed twelve weeks and cannot be extended. It is a stage in the adjudication rather than a denial, but USCIS is under no duty to issue one before denying.
Form I-829Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, is the petition an EB-5 conditional permanent resident files in the 90 days before the second anniversary of that status, asking USCIS to confirm the capital was invested and the ten jobs created and to make the green card unconditional.
Conditional permanent residenceConditional permanent residence is the status an EB-5 investor and their spouse and children hold for the first two years: full lawful permanent residence, evidenced by a Green Card valid for two years, whose conditional basis must be removed on Form I-829 or the status ends.
Form I-551Form I-551, the Permanent Resident Card or green card, is the document 8 CFR 264.1(b) lists as evidence of alien registration for a lawful permanent resident, and an EB-5 investor's first one is issued with a two year expiry because the residence it evidences is conditional.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary