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Process and timing

Notice of Intent to Deny

Also called NOID.

A Notice of Intent to Deny, or NOID, is a written USCIS notice that the officer has reached a proposed refusal, setting out the grounds and allowing one answer within a period that can never exceed 30 days. On an EB-5 filing it is always discretionary, never something the petitioner can insist on, and USCIS may deny without issuing one.

What it decides

A NOID differs from a Request for Evidence in kind rather than in degree, because the officer has already formed a proposed conclusion and must state the unmet eligibility requirement and the adverse information in enough detail for the petitioner to answer it. It is not the right notice where required initial evidence is simply absent, which is RFE territory or grounds for outright denial. The maximum response time is 30 days, plus 3 days where the notice went by mail, so 33 days from mailing, against twelve weeks for an RFE, and no extension may be granted. A partial answer is treated as a request for a decision on the record. Separately, USCIS must let a petitioner rebut derogatory information the petitioner does not know about before deciding against them. USCIS is obliged to issue a NOID only on a short list of adoption and physician filings, none of which is EB-5. A Notice of Intent to Revoke or to Terminate is a different notice, aimed at something already approved, with its own 30 day window.

Governed by 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8)(iii) for the notice and the requirement to state the basis for the proposed denial, (b)(8)(iv) for the thirty day cap and the bar on extensions, (b)(11) for partial responses and (b)(16)(i) for derogatory information unknown to the petitioner; 8 CFR 103.8(b) for the three extra days on a mailed notice. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 6, Section F.4 supplies the 33 day arithmetic and the only three filings on which a NOID is mandatory, Form I-800A, Form I-800 and a physician national interest waiver Form I-485, and states that a NOID is not appropriate where required initial evidence is missing; Chapter 10, Section D sets the thirty day window for a Notice of Intent to Revoke or Terminate. Both chapters were revised by Policy Alert PA-2026-05, signed 4 August 2026. The Policy Manual pages carry no fixed last updated date.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into notice of intent to deny rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

  • 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.
  • Denial and revocationDenial and revocation are the two ways USCIS refuses an EB-5 petition: a denial rejects a petition that has not established eligibility, and a revocation withdraws an approval already granted, which is why an approved EB-5 petition is never finally settled.
  • Administrative Appeals OfficeThe Administrative Appeals Office, or AAO, is the USCIS body that reviews denials of EB-5 investor petitions, regional center applications and project approvals, looking at the whole record afresh rather than deferring to the officer below, and no court may take up an EB-5 determination until its review has been exhausted.
  • Motion to reopen or reconsiderA motion to reopen or reconsider is a request on Form I-290B, costing $800, that asks the USCIS office which made the latest decision in a case to look at it again, and it must be filed within 30 calendar days of that decision, or 33 days where the decision came by mail.
  • Preponderance of the evidencePreponderance of the evidence is the standard of proof in EB-5: the investor must show each element of eligibility is probably true, more likely than not, which USCIS reads as a greater than 50 percent chance. It is a far lower bar than proof beyond reasonable doubt, and lower than clear and convincing evidence.

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