Request for review

The step that puts a denial in front of the Board. It goes to the certifying officer who issued the denial rather than to the Board directly, and the officer forwards the file. Reconsideration asks that officer to change their mind; a request for review asks a judge to.

Deadline. 30 days from the date of the determination. It has to identify the determination, set out the grounds, and attach the Final Determination. Letting both this window and the reconsideration window pass counts as a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and the denial then becomes the final determination of the Secretary, which forecloses a federal court looking at it later.