USCIS Potomac Service Center: Forms, Filing, and RFEs

The USCIS Potomac Service Center, located in Camp Springs, Maryland, adjudicates employment authorization, travel document, and family-based petitions by mail and online only. It is not open to the public, and since November 13, 2023 it no longer accepts paper mail for evidence or responses. If your case is there, you will interact with it either through your USCIS online account or by mailing documents to the Texas Service Center on its behalf.

Forms the Potomac Service Center Handles

Per the current USCIS service center processing chart, the Potomac Service Center (PSC) adjudicates:

Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, which produces the Employment Authorization Document (EAD). All service centers share this workload.
Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, covering Advance Parole and Re-entry Permits.
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, filed by U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor qualifying relatives. The PSC often receives I-130 cases transferred in from other centers.

One boundary worth flagging: the PSC does not currently process Form I-140, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. Those go to the Nebraska Service Center and the Texas Service Center.¹ Assignments shift over time, so check the chart before you file.

The PSC also absorbs transfers from other centers. Recent examples include I-130 immediate relative petitions from Nebraska and I-751 petitions to remove conditions on residence from Vermont and California.²

The PSC No Longer Accepts Paper Mail

This is the single most important operational fact about the PSC, and missing it can cost you your case. Since November 13, 2023, the Potomac Service Center will not accept mailed responses to Requests for Evidence (RFEs), Notices of Intent to Deny, Notices of Intent to Revoke, or any other supporting documentation for cases pending there.³

You have two ways to submit documents for a PSC case:

If your receipt number starts with “IOE-,” upload your response directly through your USCIS online account.
For every other receipt number, mail your documents to: USCIS Texas Service Center, Attn: Digital RFE, 6046 N Belt Line Rd., STE 114, Irving, TX 75038.³

Sending paper to the PSC’s old address risks your response never being processed, which can result in a denial.

Processing Times for PSC Cases

USCIS has stopped publishing processing times by individual service center. Because a single case can be worked on at multiple locations depending on staffing, times are now posted under “Service Center Operations (SCOPS)” rather than under the PSC by name. Look up your form and category on the USCIS processing times page for the current estimate.

Two rules affect how that clock runs. First, if USCIS issues an RFE or other request for evidence, any time limit on processing pauses on the date the request is sent and resumes only when USCIS receives your response, under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(10).⁴ Second, rescheduling a biometrics appointment resets the clock entirely, from the date USCIS receives the rescheduling request.

A note for anyone who has heard about the old 90-day EAD adjudication rule: that provision under 8 CFR 274a.13(d) was eliminated in November 2016. There is no current regulatory deadline forcing USCIS to decide an EAD application within a specific number of days, and no interim EAD is available.

Premium Processing and Expedite Requests

For some forms the PSC handles, you can pay for premium processing by filing Form I-907. USCIS guarantees it will take action within a set number of business days or refund the premium fee. Timeframes and fees vary by form:

Form I-765 (Employment Authorization): 30 business days. The premium processing fee is $1,780 for applications postmarked on or after March 1, 2026.
Most I-129 petition classifications and I-140: 15 business days, with the fee at $2,965 effective March 1, 2026.

“Taking action” is not the same as approval. USCIS can meet the guarantee by issuing an RFE, a notice of intent to deny, or a denial. If an RFE is issued during premium processing, the clock stops and resets once you respond.⁵

If premium processing isn’t available or affordable, you can request an expedite at no cost, but USCIS approves these only in limited circumstances: severe financial loss to a company or person, emergencies or urgent humanitarian situations, certain nonprofit requests furthering cultural or social interests, government interest cases, and clear USCIS errors.⁶ Needing work authorization on its own does not qualify. You need to show a compelling factor beyond the ordinary hardship of waiting.

Responding to a Request for Evidence From the PSC

An RFE tells you which eligibility requirement has not been established, why your existing evidence falls short, and gives examples of what would fix the gap.⁷

You get a maximum of 84 days (12 weeks) to respond, and USCIS cannot extend that deadline. When the RFE is sent by regular mail, a response received up to 3 days after the 84-day period still counts as timely, giving you an effective 87 days from the mailing date.⁷ Missing the deadline usually results in a denial based on what USCIS already has in the file.

Common Reasons for I-765 RFEs

For Form I-765 applications, the frequent triggers are missing or unsigned forms, foreign-language documents submitted without a certified English translation, failure to demonstrate economic necessity when the eligibility category requires it, and incomplete criminal history documentation where disclosure is required. F-1 students filing for post-completion OPT face a strict 30-day filing window after the Designated School Official enters the recommendation into SEVIS; missing that window produces a denial, not an RFE.

How to Submit Your Response

Do not mail your response to the PSC. If your receipt number starts with “IOE-,” upload the documents through your USCIS online account. Otherwise, mail them to the Texas Service Center at the address listed in your RFE notice.³ Respond to every item the RFE identifies, even the ones that look redundant. Partial responses are a common reason for denial.

Checking Status and Following Up on a PSC Case

Use the 13-character receipt number on your USCIS notice with the online case status tool, which shows the last five actions on your case at no cost.⁸ A USCIS online account gives more detail and lets you upload documents or respond to notices electronically.

If your case is past the posted processing time, submit an inquiry through the USCIS e-Request tool or call the Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833). Live agents are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern.⁹

When to Contact the CIS Ombudsman

When Contact Center calls and e-Requests haven’t moved things, the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, an independent office within the Department of Homeland Security, can take a case assistance request. You must have contacted USCIS through one of its customer service tools within the last 90 days and given the agency at least 60 days to respond. Where the only issue is a processing delay, the Ombudsman can step in only after the posted processing time for your case type has passed.¹⁰

The Ombudsman also assists with undelivered USCIS notices, typographic errors in immigration documents, improper rejections due to clear factual mistakes, and certain emergency or hardship situations. It cannot help if an expedite request was simply denied, if you need legal advice, or if a congressional representative is already inquiring on your behalf and fewer than 45 days have passed.¹⁰

What Happens If Your Case Is Transferred

USCIS regularly transfers cases between service centers to balance workloads. If your case moves from or to the PSC, you will receive an official transfer notice. Your receipt number stays the same; despite a common misconception, USCIS has confirmed the number does not change with a transfer.²

A transfer does not affect your priority date or the merits of your case. If you don’t receive a decision within the published processing time for the receiving center, submit an inquiry online or call the Contact Center, and mention the transfer so the agent can route the inquiry correctly. If your petition is eligible for premium processing and you want to request it after a transfer, file Form I-907 with the service center where your case is currently pending, along with a copy of your receipt notice.²