On each of the four RFE templates, the first page of the template includes the following language related to the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE) tool:
We check all petitions and applications filed for this classification in our Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE) system. VIBE uses commercially available data to validate basic information about organizations requesting to employ foreign workers. For more information about this program, please visit our website at www.uscis.gov/VIBE.
Adjudicators may interpret this language to mean a company must be in VIBE. The fact that a company is not listed in VIBE is not determinative; companies may prove their existence and validity through a variety of other means, including, but not limited to, the other evidence listed in each of the RFE templates. Additionally, it is important to point out that, by definition, many E-1/E-2 petitioning companies will be new and thus not yet in VIBE. Therefore, we believe that this language either be removed or clarified to state that VIBE is used to enhance USCIS’s adjudication of these petitions and applications.
Also, the “enterprise’s telephone directory listing” is included on the E-2 Treaty Investor RFE in the list of evidence that may be provided to establish that the enterprise is bona fide. Although such evidence could be helpful in showing that the enterprise is active and operating, modern businesses may not always have a telephone directory listing. Instead, we believe that information from the company’s website, such as a business directory or staff page or online reviews of the company, such as from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or Yelp be considered acceptable evidence and included on this list.
Kiju Joseph Sung, Esq.