Visa delay lawsuit

[seablock 23]

This guy filed a lawsuit in Maryland alleging undue delay in the processing of his I-130 that they filed in January 2020.  He alleges, "The combined delay and failure to act on Vishal Thakur’s immigrant visa application is attributable to the failure of Defendants to adhere to their legal duty to avoid unreasonable delays under the INA and the applicable rules and regulations.26. There are no alternative adequate or reasonable forms of relief available to Plaintiff.27. Plaintiff has exhausted all available administrative remedies in pursuit of a resolution of this matter, including repeatedly requesting the processing of their case." Interesting. I read elsewhere that the filing of a lawsuit will sometime speed up the processing our immigration cases.

DHS Hit With Suit Over Spousal Visa Processing Delay

 

https://www.law360.com/cases/60c11685e65a6202df8a4eab?article_sidebar=1

Edited June 16, 2021 by seablock

[Deagle 494]

Filing a lawsuit, also known as Writ of Mandamus, will usually help to get the case moving. That doesn't mean they will approve the case, its just to get an answer. Which can be helpful in cases that are stuck for a long time. 

[seablock 23]

1 hour ago, Deagle said:

Filing a lawsuit, also known as Writ of Mandamus, will usually help to get the case moving. That doesn't mean they will approve the case, its just to get an answer. Which can be helpful in cases that are stuck for a long time. 

We may be doing that in our case where the I-751 was approved but no green card was forthcoming because they thought the N-400 was approved when it was just pending.  Now that my wife passed the English and civics examination of the N-400 application (recommend for approval of citizenship) and we waited a month with no citizenship and no green card.  We have an infopass appointment next week to determine the exact reason for the failure to send a green card because that may be the reason the N-400 has not been approved.  The pro-se lawsuit is starting to look like a desirable option as the USCIS will be forced to respond within 60 days which may loosen the logjam.  (at a cost of $400 filing fee however).  Their lame excuse about getting an adit stamp doesn't wash as we paid for the green card and want it  now absent immediate citizenship. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by seablock

[Deagle 494]

10 hours ago, seablock said:

We may be doing that in our case where the I-751 was approved but no green card was forthcoming because they thought the N-400 was approved when it was just pending.  Now that my wife passed the English and civics examination of the N-400 application (recommend for approval of citizenship) and we waited a month with no citizenship and no green card.  We have an infopass appointment next week to determine the exact reason for the failure to send a green card because that may be the reason the N-400 has not been approved.  The pro-se lawsuit is starting to look like a desirable option as the USCIS will be forced to respond within 60 days which may loosen the logjam.  (at a cost of $400 filing fee however).  Their lame excuse about getting an adit stamp doesn't wash as we paid for the green card and want it  now absent immediate citizenship. 

Writ of Mandamus is very helpful. I am not sure about filing it alone without a lawyer though. A good immigration lawyer is half the battle. 

[seablock 23]

14 minutes ago, Deagle said:

Writ of Mandamus is very helpful. I am not sure about filing it alone without a lawyer though. A good immigration lawyer is half the battle. 

Well I can get some use out of my expensive law school education as I am an attorney.  All the writ of mandamus will do is force them to do their job.  And in this case when they are contacted by DOJ, for them it is easier to finish processing the case than to fight out a lawsuit.  In this case, the pro-se filer just needs to get his complaint filed and that could break up any logjam. As is their right, USCIS may decide to fight the case for whatever reason but their resources are more efficiently spent processing the administrative case and this would point them in that direction.  Otherwise, phone calls, emails and congressional letters don't really give USCIS an incentive to speed things up.

[Deagle 494]

11 minutes ago, seablock said:

Well I can get some use out of my expensive law school education as I am an attorney.  All the writ of mandamus will do is force them to do their job.  And in this case when they are contacted by DOJ, for them it is easier to finish processing the case than to fight out a lawsuit.  In this case, the pro-se filer just needs to get his complaint filed and that could break up any logjam. As is their right, USCIS may decide to fight the case for whatever reason but their resources are more efficiently spent processing the administrative case and this would point them in that direction.  Otherwise, phone calls, emails and congressional letters don't really give USCIS an incentive to speed things up.

Yes that makes sense since you have the legal background. If you end up going down that route, please keep us updated. Good luck!

[Timona 3,940]

16 hours ago, seablock said:

We may be doing that in our case where the I-751 was approved but no green card was forthcoming because they thought the N-400 was approved when it was just pending.  Now that my wife passed the English and civics examination of the N-400 application (recommend for approval of citizenship) and we waited a month with no citizenship and no green card.  We have an infopass appointment next week to determine the exact reason for the failure to send a green card because that may be the reason the N-400 has not been approved.  The pro-se lawsuit is starting to look like a desirable option as the USCIS will be forced to respond within 60 days which may loosen the logjam.  (at a cost of $400 filing fee however).  Their lame excuse about getting an adit stamp doesn't wash as we paid for the green card and want it  now absent immediate citizenship. 

 

I think I did tell you in an earlier post of yours to keep murm over the GC and focus your battle on citizenship. USCIS may as well give it you and delay your N400 for as long as they want. Why would you fight over a step that is way back? I am currently sitting on 1 year N400 application without even an interview notice on the horizon. Focus on the final battle (N400) unless you wanna win the GC one and have to start the arduous process of waiting for the N400.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Timona

[Scandi 3,970]

1 hour ago, Timona said:

 

I think I did tell you in an earlier post of yours to keep murm over the GC and focus your battle on citizenship. USCIS may as well give it you and delay your N400 for as long as they want. Why would you fight over a step that is way back? I am currently sitting on 1 year N400 application without even an interview notice on the horizon. Focus on the final battle (N400) unless you wanna win the GC one and have to start the arduous process of waiting for the N400.

Was thinking the same thing. Just go get an i-551 stamp and move on.

[seablock 23]

1 hour ago, Timona said:

 

I think I did tell you in an earlier post of yours to keep murm over the GC and focus your battle on citizenship. USCIS may as well give it you and delay your N400 for as long as they want. Why would you fight over a step that is way back? I am currently sitting on 1 year N400 application without even an interview notice on the horizon. Focus on the final battle (N400) unless you wanna win the GC one and have to start the arduous process of waiting for the N400.

It is a good possibility that the N-400 is being held up because of the whatever issue exists with the approved N-751.  The maximum they can delay the N-400 is 3 more months but at the end of that period, I can file a madamus writ to put take the case away from USCIS but it is possible they could say the I-751 green card is being held up for whatever reason. (bio-metrics was mentioned in an infopass call but she said it should be waived...hmmm....she also said they were not sending the green card because the N-400 was being processed, incorrect again).  This is the smart play from my perspective to break open the logjam and we paid for a green card, they should produce it. 

[Timona 3,940]

29 minutes ago, seablock said:

It is a good possibility that the N-400 is being held up because of the whatever issue exists with the approved N-751.  The maximum they can delay the N-400 is 3 more months but at the end of that period, I can file a madamus writ to put take the case away from USCIS but it is possible they could say the I-751 green card is being held up for whatever reason. (bio-metrics was mentioned in an infopass call but she said it should be waived...hmmm....she also said they were not sending the green card because the N-400 was being processed, incorrect again).  This is the smart play from my perspective to break open the logjam and we paid for a green card, they should produce it. 

 

What do you mean 3 more months? You've got link? 

 

Anyway, upto you. Let us know how it goes. 

[Scandi 3,970]

53 minutes ago, seablock said:

It is a good possibility that the N-400 is being held up because of the whatever issue exists with the approved N-751.  The maximum they can delay the N-400 is 3 more months but at the end of that period, I can file a madamus writ to put take the case away from USCIS but it is possible they could say the I-751 green card is being held up for whatever reason. (bio-metrics was mentioned in an infopass call but she said it should be waived...hmmm....she also said they were not sending the green card because the N-400 was being processed, incorrect again).  This is the smart play from my perspective to break open the logjam and we paid for a green card, they should produce it. 

If your i-751 was approved then it's done and dusted, no matter if you got your physical greencard or not. The i-751 is no more. A ton of people are LPRs and have approved greencard petitions without having the physical card, it doesn't change anything other than that you need another form of proof of your status (the i-551 stamp). The N-400 is a separate petition and you no longer have a pending i-751, so they're in no way connected at this point. 

[JKLSemicolon 327]

3 hours ago, seablock said:

It is a good possibility that the N-400 is being held up because of the whatever issue exists with the approved N-751.  The maximum they can delay the N-400 is 3 more months but at the end of that period, I can file a madamus writ to put take the case away from USCIS but it is possible they could say the I-751 green card is being held up for whatever reason. (bio-metrics was mentioned in an infopass call but she said it should be waived...hmmm....she also said they were not sending the green card because the N-400 was being processed, incorrect again).  This is the smart play from my perspective to break open the logjam and we paid for a green card, they should produce it. 

Good luck. Consider updating your VJ timeline while you wait.

[Ontarkie 13,915]

~~Thread moved to US Citizenship General Discussion, from IR1/CR1 P&P - the OP is waiting on the N400~~

[seablock 23]

14 hours ago, Scandi said:

If your i-751 was approved then it's done and dusted, no matter if you got your physical greencard or not. The i-751 is no more. A ton of people are LPRs and have approved greencard petitions without having the physical card, it doesn't change anything other than that you need another form of proof of your status (the i-551 stamp). The N-400 is a separate petition and you no longer have a pending i-751, so they're in no way connected at this point. 

We have the adit stamp (which got us sent to secondary the first time we used it),.  The failure of USCIS to produce the green card appears to be a symptom of an underlying problem.  The I-797 approval was in error regarding the N-400  being approved.  Each immigration had a different explanation as to what is going on with the green card (the immigration officer conducting the citizenship exam was confused and said she would look into it).  So the I-751 approval might have been an error as well and this will hold up the N-400 approval.   And as a side issue and a matter of principal, we paid $700+ for a green card, so we want it if they cannot give us a date for citizenship swearing in. 

[seablock 23]

20 hours ago, Timona said:

 

What do you mean 3 more months? You've got link? 

 

Anyway, upto you. Let us know how it goes. 

Three months left until the 120 days pass from the citizenship interview the case can be decided by a federal judge.

 

Here is the link to the case if that  is what your were referring to.

Kamal.pdf