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What is a Mandamus ? A (writ of) mandamus is an order from a court to an inferior government official ordering the government official to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion. In case of immigration it deals with asking Courts to intervene when USCIS is not performing its task of adjudicating immigration petition within 180 days of filing date. Congress as part of immigration law has written the law that USCIS should adjudicate petitions at the max period of 180 days ( as per 8 USC CHAPTER 13) ( link: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title8/chapter13/subchapter2&edition=prelim#:~:text=It is the sense of,days after the filing of) Here is the basic essence of wom process : Step 1: Draft and File complaint against Uscis . This will be the defendant. In the current scenario of April 2023, Mayorkas is the head of DHS or Jaddou is USCIS head. Court has a format for a civil complaint and a template (example of template from a court in San Francisco https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/pro-se/legal-help-center-templates-and-packets/General-Complaint-Packet_12-1-2020.pdf). You can download it from local court website . You are filing the complaint as a "Pro Se" meaning yourself without a help of lawyer. The complaint will need the following information 1) Nature of the Complaint: You can write the complaint in simple English using the above template document and asking for something like below : Iam so and so( include your name ) who has filed for I-XXX( xxx can be the form ( i-131, i-485, i-751) with receipt number WAC21900XXXX and it was filed with Uscis on date (dd-mmm-yyyy) and Uscis is expected to adjudicate hold interview within 180 days of receiving the application as per 8 USC code 1186b. You can add more information about your petition as needed. 2) Second part is jurisdiction in the compliant . You can says that the court has jurisdiction cause you live there as per 8 USC 1391(e) where you are resident of the jurisdiction and the defendant is a United States officer .You are allowed to file the case in your local jurisdiction aka district you reside if the defendant is a United States officer 3) Third part in the complaint is statement of facts . This is where you tell the court why courts need to step in and tell Uscis to adjudicate the case. You are asking the courts to intervene as USCIS has not performed its duty assigned by Congress to adjudicate your case within 180 days of filing. ( see attachment X) So most complaints don’t go for trial and the us attorney will reach out to you over phone to discuss an agreement. Us attorney will call and say “ hey we won’t need a trial but we can get you a decision on your case in. 90/120/150 days “ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Going back to statement of facts is where you write the story . The courts needs to know why they need intervene and it is for you to tell them why ?. You can say something like below You talk about the i-131/i-485/i-751 Petition you filed . You filed your i-131/485/751 on date dd-mm-yyyy.( see attachment 1) you completed biometrics on dd-mm-yyyy date and it has been XX months since you filed and you have not got a decision on your case . Uscis current processing time for i-131/485/751.is now about XX months which is 10x the time set by Congress in immigration act of 1990 as per 8 USC 1186b . Congress has set a guidelines of 180 days for Uscis to conduct to adjudicate the petition To close it out you can say USCIS has violated. 8USC 1186b or an immigration law section 8 USC XXXX ( read immigration law here https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/chapter-12) and failed to adjudicate your case as set by Congress. 4) Last part of the complaint is relief This is where you ask what court should do.You ask for court to enter a mandate time to adjudicate the petition. You sign the complaint at the end That is the end of complaint and your mandamus (Writ of Mandamus) It should be about 4-5 pages max 5) Attachments You attach a print out of your i-131/485/751 receipt, green card( if applicable) , USCIS processing time print out from USCIS.gov website Along with complaint you need the following 1) civil cover sheet 2) summons Here is a link for civil cover sheet https://www.caed.uscourts.gov/caednew/assets/File/JS_044.pdf. ( search your own local federal court for the correct form ) link to summons https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ao440.pdf ( search your own local federal court for the correct form ) Step 2: Filing the complaint with court: Once you have the complaint and civil cover sheet and summons go to the local district court,Remember it is DISTRICT court Go to the clerk at the court and tell you have a civil case to file . This has to be in person . They will review the documents . Make fourh copies of complaint and 4 copies of civil cover sheet and 4 copies of summons Make a check for 402$ for filing fee Once the clerk accepts the complaint they will take two copies of all documents .1 for court and 1 for chambers . They will give you 2 copy stamped for you (one copy for you and one backup) . You will get a case number assigned and like 500 pages of instructions So now your complaint has been filed with Court. You now have to send a copy of complaint, Summons, Civil Cover Sheet and all the instructions that Court gave you to the defendant. Step 3 Serving the Complaint to defendants (USCIS/DHS) : So now the complaint is filed with court. Once the complaint is filed . You make like 4 copies of your complaint that was stamped by the court. You also make 4 copies of the documents given to you by court So you should now have 4 copies of your complaint , civil cover sheet, summons and instructions from court Now you need to serve three people 1) US attorney in your district 2 ) attorney general in Washington DC 3) Uscis office general counsel in Washington DC Take stamped complaint , civil cover sheet , summon, court instructions and send them via usps certified mail to the above 3 officers Address for US attorney can be obtained by calling your local us attorney office USCIS General counsel can he served at : office of attorney counsel ,dhs, 2701 Martin Luther jr ave, Washington DC, 20528-0485 Attorney general of United States office can be served at : US department of justice, 950 Pennsylvania ave, Washington DC 20530-0001 So now the complaint is served to three people 1) US Attorney in your district 2) Attorney General 3) General Counsel at USCIS/DHS The clock now starts for 60 window before which the District Attorney will give you a phone call to negotiate.

My K-1 spouse and I are finalizing our I-751 submission and will hopefully mail it tomorrow. We had used the services of a professional immigration lawyer for the original K-1 process with mixed results. It was surprising how many things were overlooked by them. In any case, we're doing the I-751 ourselves and saving the $2,500 fee the lawyer wanted for it. Before sending things in tomorrow I just wanted to ask my fellow Visa Journey members a couple of questions that should be (hopefully) easy to answer. 1) Just to be sure.. the "Petitioner" on the I-751 form is the K-1 immigrant fiancée.. correct? Not me, the U.S. citizen. This is (I believe) a reversal of how things were on the K-1. 2) The I-751 filing fee is $595.00 and the Biometric fee is $85.00. My question is.. are they both to be sent in at this time with the I-751 submission?.. or just the $595 filing fee only. And if the answer is that both are sent now, should it be separate checks or just one check for $680.00. Thanks in advance for all replies. JM

Thought this would be an interesting datapoint. I was just listening to Jim Hacking's Immigration Show on YouTube. Somebody reported getting a 10 year GC AFTER naturalizing and having naturalization certificate in hand. Episode 357. All because of pending I-751 at the moment of N-400 interview. Lawyer suggested keeping the card in safe place just in case. What would you do in this case?

Hello. Help me please, We married on Jan 14 2019. I got my marriage based 2year green card on Sep 08 2020. I applied I-751 on Jun 2022 and it’s still pending. what date can I apply for N-400 citizenship?

Hi again everyone, I sent all the I-751 paperwork begininng of this week and from the mail tracking, I was notified that everything was delivered to the right USCIS center. What is going to happen now? Am I going to receive a recipt saying that everything was simply received? that the USCIS is going to take on my case? or, I am going to be notified only if some RFE are needed or that my case has been approved? I have not found any usefull info online and also signing in my personal USCIS account nothing has showed up yet. I'd like to know what to expect in the near future. Thanks!

Hello, I’m in between filing N-400( under 3 year rule)online or mail filing. Those who filed N-400 ( under 3 year rule), which way seemed better? if possible please share your timeline from I-751 to N-400. thank you.

Hi! So, my Green card expires April 2nd 2023. January 1st, I sent out my form i-751, but forgot to include my payment. I received my rejection notice yesterday (2/13), and sent the form back out today (2/14) with my payment form. What are the chances that they reject again due to it being late? I am really stressing out about this. I am still married, hold a job with the state and have a lot going for me here with my husband. Help!

Hi everyone, 2 years have passed since I received the GC. Few weeks ago I received the notice from both our lawyer and the USCIS to file for I-751. This time, I would like to avoid having our lawyer supporting us in the process, simply because her rate is very high and for the Conditional GC, it cost us a lot of money. My husband and I do not have any red flag or any other potential issue to be aware of. Would you recommend to file on our own? How easy/hard is to file for the I-751? Is it common to make any mistake in the process? I'd appreciate any recommendation and experience. Thank you!

Hello All I have a question when filing out the form I-751 in page 2, additional information about you item 20. I have been deported and waived. is this something that will count as deteined? I am not sure if I should say YES or not here. I was deported and I had to process waiver which were approved. I was never in Jail or anything but I am not sure if this counts like any of the specified in the question? any suggestions will be very appreacited.

Hello, My green card expires on april 2023. I just changed my legal name because of marriage. Do you know if I can fill out the form I-751 Petition to remove conditions on residence without filling out the I-90 form? What is the correct way to do it? Thank you,

Hi everyone, this would be my first post on the forum. I highly appreciate everyone for sharing their journey and answering questions. I have two so far: 1) I'm about to file I-751, my dual citizen daughter was on vacation since September of 2022 in my home country but will also pick her up next year. do I put a check on page 3 on question if child is living with us, since it's just a vacation? 2) For the fee, I know the total would be $680, correct me if I'm wrong. Do I put the amount together on just a single money order?

Had my N-400 interview last Tuesday -- agent got to the question where they asked if my removal of conditions was approved, I said "no???". He looked shocked and said "what?!" He then opened the big folder in front of him and said "oh i guess i have to do that too then. For that reason i cannot approve your n-400 today and just give you a receipt that you passed the interview but pending/undetermined at this time." He asked if i have anything else to give him for the i-751 (removal of conditions) and i said i brought our recent health insurance re-elections for 2023 showing and our daughter (born after we were married in the u.s.) is covered under my husband and some more recent mortgage/lease statements showing we are both still listed at same address/responsible for the payments monthly. This is in addition to a stackkkkkkkk of evidence submitted a year and a half ago when i originally submitted my i-751. He sort of said something along the lines of, " Ii don't forsee there being an issue with your approval especially with this healthcare insurance stuff, mortgage/lease stuff, and a child together -- but i'll have to look through it -- hopefully I'll get to it sometime next week." Well "next week" has now passed and not a single change in status -- i-751 still only shows finger prints reused from October, and the n-400 still just shows as interview was scheduled. HAS ANYONE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH A PENDING I-751, GOING TO THE N-400 INTERVIEW, PASSING AND THEN THE OFFICER/AGENT SAYING THEY NEED TO REVIEW THE I-751 FILE BEFORE THEY CAN APPROVE THAT THEN APPROVE CITIZENSHIP IF THEY THINK YOU SHOULD BE APPROVED? HOW LONG DID YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR A CHANGE/UPDATE ONLINE? HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT BEFORE I SHOULD BE WORRIED/TRYING TO FOLLOW-UP? HAS ANYONE HAD TO FOLLOW-UP TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THEIR CASE IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS? IS IT VIA AN INFO PASS, OR DO WE USE OUR INBOX THING IN THE ONLINE PORTAL TO FOLLOW-UP?? IS THERE A DURATION OF TIME BEFORE MY N-400 INTERVIEW STATUS LIKE EXPIRES AND I HAVE TO RE-DO IT??? I knew i should of asked more questions when I was there but i was nervous to seem pushy ... but he just put my file on the back of his desk and my heart sank thinking that with the holidays around the corner my case is going to just get forgotten on the back of that desk. I was hopeful this morning and thinking maybe today i'll see updates, but no updates so now i feel like my hope of it happening for xmas is non-existent especially with this winter storm. Any stories/guidance/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait for this process to come to a close -- it's been emotionally draining for the last almost 3 years.... AS YOU ALL KNOW VERY WELL!!!

Hi Everyone! I just filed I-751 today with a divorce waiver. I am curious to know if anyone here has done that and how it all went. I am hopeful but also very nervous! TYIA!

Hi, I filed my form i-751 on Nov 18 2022, and still haven't received the form i-797 or had the payment process in my bank account. I was planning on visiting my family for New Years, and I can't leave the country without the NOA. Is anyone else experiencing delays on receiving the letter? It seems like most people that submitted in November already received their NOA.

I'll try to be as detailed as I can I'm totally freaking out over here . Case History, All at DET center In a relationship with USC spouse for 4 years prior to marriage. (I was on DACA) Married in April 2016 Filed for AOS the next month. Interviewed and approved on the spot in September 2016 for AOS and received Conditional green card a few weeks later Marriage got rocky mid 2017 ultimately filed for divorce end of 2017, divorce finalized may 2018 Filed I751 August 2018 and then the long wait Met my current spouse in 2018 and was remarried at the end of 2018 (still married) Filed N400 this year in May after the 5years had elapsed Received first interview appointment for last October. After waiting in the lobby of the agent came out to let me know that they couldn't find my paperwork from my i-751 and that they couldn't proceed with the interview that day and they would reschedule it after they found my paperwork. Got a notice on October 31st of new interview date of December 5th and just had my interview yesterday. It was a combo interview i751 and N400 as the i751 had still been pending. The agent I had was a bit more stern than I had anticipated, however I tried to keep my cool and stick to what I knew. Issues I ran into: A page of my judgement of divorce was missing from my original file. Luckily I had read on here to make sure to have extra certified copies and I gave them one copy. Second issue and this would be the most pivotal. Midway through which you told me that he could not approve my i751. He still has a lot of questions to which I instantly told him I have even more proof of our relationship being bonafide. I brought a album of photos which showed our relationship from the very beginning when we were just dating. Much younger through marriage that show trips with family with each other, etc. He also asked if we owned any property. I told him we didn't. I did have extra copies of our lease agreements bills in both of our names, utilities, credit cards. She was listed as the primary beneficiary on my 401k. My life insurance we shared medical insurance as well through my workplace. I had records of all the trips we took together. Also had copies of letters from the state or address changes etc. Affidavits from some of our friends. In my paperwork and at the interview I did mention how we started clashing on religious beliefs. We both share the same religion but she chose to not actively practice and it caused clashes on how we planned to raise the kids we were trying to have and it led to other arguments etc. I assume this wasn't a good enough reason for the agent. Because after I showed him the photo album did state. Are you sure that it wasn't because you guys were too young and didn't understand how serious marriage was. To which I did mention we were very young. We got married. Not super young but early 20s and because of this we didn't understand a lot of things that I know now in life after therapy etc. Of our relationships change and how we can't expect them to be the same and then as I was getting ready to pull out more information, he said that's all right. Let's move forward with the n400. We went through the entire n400 at the end he told me that I have passed the n400 and he would be recommending me for naturalization pending the i751. On the paperwork that they gave me he did select that I was recommended for naturalization and not the section that says a decision can't be made at this moment. I don't know if this has any weight. I'm just confused because my 751 is of course still pending and I don't know if I gave him enough proof. I offered to leave it any extra documents that I have with him and he told me that he didn't need them and that the next steps after they make their decision would be the scheduling me for my oath ceremony. He went into detail about how I wouldn't receive a green card as what I would receive instead would be a notice of my schedule of ceremony. So I don't really know how it went. Hopefully somebody has some advice am I overthinking? It really caught me off guard when he told me that he wasn't going to approve my i751 during the interview. And I don't know if they normally continue the interview for the n400 if they can't prove the i751. Let alone give me the paper at the end recommending my naturalization. Has anyone been through something similar?

Hello, we applied for i-751 removal of conditions on december 2020 and till this date, we have no green card nor a interview date Case is stuck on "Case Is Ready To Be Scheduled For An Interview" since october of 2021. What is my next step as to the extension of 24 months is expiring soon as well. Thanks for all your help!

I can't find a November 2022 Filers thread, so I guess I'll create one! I thought I was going to be an October 2022 filer as Oct. 31 was the day we became eligible to file, but needed an extra day to put my package in order, so ended up filing November 1st. I'm a bit confused which Service Center to select in my Visa Journey timeline under the Removing Conditions section. The choices are: California Service Center National Benefits Center (MSC) Nebraska Service Center Potomac Service Center Texas Service Center Vermont Service Center I live in California, but the USCIS instructions told me to mail my package to the Phoenix, Arizona lockbox. Which Service Center is the Phoenix, Arizona lockbox associated with?

I am about to submit my I-751 but I have a query about this question: Form I-751 - Part 1, Question 14 - Conditional Residence Expires on (mm/dd/yyyy) - What date should I put? View the details of my case/situation below... Here's some background on my situation for context: 1. I arrived in the USA on my CR-1 December 19th 2020 2. The CR-1 expired May 25th 2021 (is this normal? as I hadn't been in the USA for even 1 year at this point) 3. My physical green card was not delivered and resulted in "Card Destroyed" status. I then filed an I-90 for replacement card (which is still in progress). 4. I got a temporary I-551 stamp from USCIS in Nov 2021 which expired Oct 2022 (this month) 5. I got a second temporary I-551 stamp this month which is valid for 1 year (until Oct 2023) Your help is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Owen

Hello, i filed the i-751 and got the rfe on july 1 2022. I submitted the RFE with 3 pound evidence on 9/30/2022. It was delivered to PO box at local post office nearby USCIS on Oct. 1st, 2022. The status is still same as “available to pick up “even though it is October 5, 2022. i contacted USPS local office, and no matter what i need to wait someone pick up the my item in the post office. My document is too think to put in po box and they put my doc on the counter I guess. Do you guys think officer didnt realize my package or their pick up process is always late like this? can you guys give me idea what do i do. my due date on RFE is oct 11, 2022. i heard that all of RFE is extended for 60 days the date on the rfe document. I am worried it was not delivered on time. Please help me!

Hello, I have a question about utilities. In our particular situation, we added the petitioner's name rather late to the utility bill accounts and so we only have bills from this year's with both the spouse's and petitioner's names but not those from previous years. Those from previous years only have the spouse's name on them. Should we include these bills from previous years regardless in our I-751 packet? Or is it better to leave the bills from prior years out and just write up an explanation as to why they were left out? Thanks

Hi my name is Tom married to a us veteran and we have a soon to be 3y old dual citizenship boy we own a house together and I have worked ever since I was able to I recently filled my I-751 removal of condition with around 40 piece's of evidence so to my shock I got my package back with the check still in it saying it was rejected due to mailing address now looking online can't find anything calling and emailing no success so please help me

Team, While attempting to update my timeline on my frofile it is becoming more apparent that the names used on this site for actions are not common enough for the basic user to match with the status of their case or form being used. I am looking for a simple guide on site function and how to update/maintain my profile. Another option would be for each section in the timeline check list to be in the order of processing and match the same order for the edit function. My goal is to update the status of my I-751 on my profile and I do not have any clue base on the selectable options in the edit profile page. I know I sent my package to Arizona but am not seeing that as an option.

Okay, so my wife is closing in on her green card expiring in November. We knew that action was needed, so we went ahead renewed the green card, which costs $535.. We've already gone to the biometrics and it should be here in a couple of months. A couple of weeks ago we received a call to action to fill out the I-751, which is to remove conditions... Now I feel like we should of waited to receive this call to action because the I-751 costs $595... What I fear is that we applied to renew her green card, when we should of waited to receive a call to action and remove the conditions... Can someone verify that we made a mistake? And can we rectify the mistake by contacting USCIS with the mix up? Or is the I-90 & I-751 necessary to stay in the country... Anything information would help. Thank you!

Hi, my husband applied for I-751 last year and received a 24month extension letter. My question is: is he eligible to apply for citizenship this August? Green card expired on Nov 2021. So he’ll be 3 years living here this year. Thank you!

I put my I-751 packet in the mail this week and realized last night that I forgot to include a copy of my conditional green card. I am still beating myself up about it. We put the form and all supporting documents together and went over everything so many times, and somehow still missed one of the most important items. Should I wait for the RFE? Should I send it in now with another cover letter? So afraid that they will reject it altogether and we will lose the application fee.