Visa delay lawsuit

[seablock 23]

UPDATE: (Background On April 12, 2021,   my wife's I-751 peitition case was approved but no10 year green card was sent because USCIS thought the N-400 was approved which was an error because the next day we received notice that  the Citizenship interview was scheduled for May 17th.   My wife then passed the exam and was recommended for approval of her citizenship.)

 

We went in for an infopass meeting and the   Immigration Services Officer told us that her cases (naturalization and removal of conditions) were at an impasse because staff who were processing the N-400 application and the I-751 petition were not communicating.  The Officer said that she and her supervisor would “reach out” to  the Immigration Services Officer who conducted the naturalization interview, to expedite the naturalization application or, failing that, clear the way to issuing the Green Card to which the Officer acknowledged that my wife was entitled. We were assured this would be resolved quickly but the logjam persisted with no resolution despite writing  directly contacting the Office Director, USCIS Ombudsman, a Senator and a Congressman.  I sent a draft copy of a writ of mandamus with a demand letter to the USCIS and then filed a writ of mandamus in federal court.  Thereafter, the USCIS sent a second  I-751 approval letter followed by a green card.  What a waste of taxpayer resources and the time of folks who legally followed the immigration laws just to be placed in limbo through no fault of their own.

[bing10 114]

On 7/18/2021 at 11:18 AM, seablock said:

I sent a draft copy of a writ of mandamus with a demand letter to the USCIS and then filed a writ of mandamus in federal court.  Thereafter, the USCIS sent a second  I-751 approval letter followed by a green card.  What a waste of taxpayer resources and the time of folks who legally followed the immigration laws just to be placed in limbo through no fault of their own.

 

Congratulations on winning your case against USCIS. I'm curious though why you didn't just wait till 120 days after the N-400 interview, and sue for Citizenship? The physical green-card doesn't matter too much as long as you have an I-551 stamp.

[seablock 23]

1 hour ago, bing10 said:

 

Congratulations on winning your case against USCIS. I'm curious though why you didn't just wait till 120 days after the N-400 interview, and sue for Citizenship? The physical green-card doesn't matter too much as long as you have an I-551 stamp.

Actually I didn't "win" the case.  The filed office just corrected its error as responding to the lawsuit would be more trouble than completing the case.  And it may be that if they further delay the N-400, we can add the N-400 to the lawsuit  in 50 some days.  This case had unique mistakes made by USCIS and it appeared to me by forcing them to issue a green card, it would straighten out the confusion of the Immigration Service Officers processing the N-400.  The green card does matter if you want to travel as the adit stamp adds extra inconvenience such as being sent to secondary screening when entering the country and issues with foreign airline staff who want to see a valid green card,  and guess what, we paid $700 for the card so we have no patience for waiting for that to which we are entitled to by law.

[bing10 114]

39 minutes ago, seablock said:

Actually I didn't "win" the case.  The filed office just corrected its error as responding to the lawsuit would be more trouble than completing the case.  And it may be that if they further delay the N-400, we can add the N-400 to the lawsuit  in 50 some days.  This case had unique mistakes made by USCIS and it appeared to me by forcing them to issue a green card, it would straighten out the confusion of the Immigration Service Officers processing the N-400.  The green card does matter if you want to travel as the adit stamp adds extra inconvenience such as being sent to secondary screening when entering the country and issues with foreign airline staff who want to see a valid green card,  and guess what, we paid $700 for the card so we have no patience for waiting for that to which we are entitled to by law.

 

I didn't realize you could just add the N-400 to the lawsuit at a later date, in that case it makes perfect sense.

[seablock 23]

UPDATE:  The lawsuit was filed and shortly thereafter there was a notification that the  I-751 was approved (second time).  The Assistant U. S. Attorney emailed me and told the green card had been approved and sent me documentation of the first approval and wanted me to sign a stipulation to drop the case.  I told her we had not received the green card nor had we been approved for the citizenship.  She never responded but shortly thereafter the citizenship was approved and a oath date scheduled.  So we took a trip with the new green card and only showed it abroad at the airport and never took it out in the USA as we passed through the Global Entry.  Lesson learned?  Filing the N-400 with a pending I-751 opens up the possibility of bureaucratic confusion with the dual track, an error regarding issuance of the green card and then and both cases blocking each other.  In this case, they didn't have  procedures to self-correct even after supervisory contact with the folks on each of the dual tracks but were forced to by agency officials in response to a lawsuit.

[aleac 75]

On 8/18/2021 at 2:58 PM, seablock said:

UPDATE:  The lawsuit was filed and shortly thereafter there was a notification that the  I-751 was approved (second time).  The Assistant U. S. Attorney emailed me and told the green card had been approved and sent me documentation of the first approval and wanted me to sign a stipulation to drop the case.  I told her we had not received the green card nor had we been approved for the citizenship.  She never responded but shortly thereafter the citizenship was approved and a oath date scheduled.  So we took a trip with the new green card and only showed it abroad at the airport and never took it out in the USA as we passed through the Global Entry.  Lesson learned?  Filing the N-400 with a pending I-751 opens up the possibility of bureaucratic confusion with the dual track, an error regarding issuance of the green card and then and both cases blocking each other.  In this case, they didn't have  procedures to self-correct even after supervisory contact with the folks on each of the dual tracks but were forced to by agency officials in response to a lawsuit.

" Filing the N-400 with a pending I-751 opens up the possibility of bureaucratic confusion with the dual track"

I am this exact position. Filed my I-751 July 2019 (29 months ago) and my N-400 July 2020 before the I-751 got approved. I even read some posts and lawyers blogs that applying for the N-400 would help move the I-751.

At this point I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit. Spending thousands of dollars with a lawyer because of USCIS incompetency is bothersome though.

[bing10 114]

1 hour ago, aleac said:

" Filing the N-400 with a pending I-751 opens up the possibility of bureaucratic confusion with the dual track"

I am this exact position. Filed my I-751 July 2019 (29 months ago) and my N-400 July 2020 before the I-751 got approved. I even read some posts and lawyers blogs that applying for the N-400 would help move the I-751.

At this point I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit. Spending thousands of dollars with a lawyer because of USCIS incompetency is bothersome though.

 

Yes, it can speed I-751, but also as you've found delay it. My experience was the latter.

 

It's too soon to be thinking of a lawsuit though in my opinion, as you are still within the official processing time for Baltimore (https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/).

 

 

[aleac 75]

Just now, bing10 said:

 

Yes, it can speed I-751, but also as you've found delay it. My experience was the latter.

 

It's too soon to be thinking of a lawsuit though in my opinion, as you are still within the official processing time for Baltimore (https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/).

 

 

In my case that's correct for the N-400, not for the I-751 which is far out of processing times.

Regardless I am considering waiting for the N400 to be out of processing times too to include it in the lawsuit.

Who knows what's right and what's wrong at this point.

[bing10 114]

23 minutes ago, aleac said:

In my case that's correct for the N-400, not for the I-751 which is far out of processing times.

Regardless I am considering waiting for the N400 to be out of processing times too to include it in the lawsuit.

Who knows what's right and what's wrong at this point.

 

Have you contacted your senators and representative to enquire on your behalf? Also, you should file an ombudsman request on this too. Even if these don't do anything, it will help with the future law-suit, as it shows you've attempted to resolve this yourself through every means possible.

 

In my case, after 2 years 2 months of waiting for the N-400, it was moving states that prompted them to take action on my case. They approved it the same day as they processed the change of address. Who knows how USCIS operates though. 

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by bing10

[aleac 75]

1 minute ago, bing10 said:

 

Have you contacted your senators and representative to enquire on your behalf? Also, you should file an ombudsman request on this too. Even if these don't do anything, it will help with the future law-suit, as it shows you've attempted to resolve this yourself through every means possible.

 

In my case, after 2 years 2 months of waiting for the N-400, it was moving states that prompted them to take action on my case. They approved it the same day as they processed the change of address. Who knows how USCIS operates though. 

 

Contacted Representative, 2 Senators, Ombudsman already, nothing happened, and yes already have everything documented.

Thanks for the help, If I decide to file the lawsuit I will update it here

[seablock 23]

2 hours ago, aleac said:

Contacted Representative, 2 Senators, Ombudsman already, nothing happened, and yes already have everything documented.

Thanks for the help, If I decide to file the lawsuit I will update it here

 

 

The lawsuit forces the USCIS to make a decision  whether to contest the complaint or to process the I-751 and N-400 and moot them  out.  The writ of mandamus is asking the court to force USCIS to do their job and give you a yes or no answer.  With the N-400 you can ask the court to make a decision on your application for naturalization.  The filing fee is $402. and there are resources available for pro se plaintiffs (diy) in Maryland.  Prisoners do it all the time.   This is a case from Maryland that gave me the idea in the first place; however, it concerns a different immigration issue that was delayed unreasonably.  All you need is to write up a complaint, summons and service of process which probably get the USCIS to act on your case but there is no guarantee of that and you might have a court case on your hands.    This is the case that inspired me from Maryland.  However, it is on a different immigration issue but it gives you an idea.   The plaintiffs dropped the case when the USCIS sent the case to DOS for visa processing.

 

"11. Preet Kamal is the spouse of Vishal Thakur and is the spouse visa petitioner for Vishal Thakur’s immigrant visa application.
12. Under federal immigration law, USCIS is authorized to approve a spouse visa application filed by a U.S. citizen and to issue an immigrant visa to allow the spouse to enter the U.S. and obtain lawful permanent resident status.
13. Vishal Thakur is a citizen of India.
14. Preet Kamal filed a visa petition for Vishal Thakur with the USCIS on January 15,
2020. The receipt number is IOE0908273365.
15. Plaintiff paid, and Defendants accepted, all applicable filing and visa fees.
16. USCIS has failed to adjudicate Plaintiff’s I-130 spouse visa petition.
17. Preet Kamal has made repeated attempts to obtain a decision in this matter
without involving this honorable Court. Plaintiff has contacted USCIS multiple times. This has led nowhere.
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
(Agency Action Unlawfully Withheld and Unreasonably Delayed)
For their first claim for relief against all Defendants, Plaintiff alleges and states as follows:
18. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference the foregoing paragraphs as
though fully set out herein.
19. The APA requires that “[w]ith due regard for the convenience and necessity of the
parties or their representatives and within a reasonable time, each agency shall proceed to conclude a matter presented to it.” 5 U.S.C. § 555(b). Section 555(b) creates a non- discretionary duty to conclude agency matters. Litton Microwave Cooking Prods. v. NLRB, 949 F.2d 249, 253 (8th Cir. 1991). A violation of this duty is a sufficient basis for mandamus relief."

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

[aleac 75]

On 9/15/2021 at 4:20 PM, seablock said:

 

 

The lawsuit forces the USCIS to make a decision  whether to contest the complaint or to process the I-751 and N-400 and moot them  out.  The writ of mandamus is asking the court to force USCIS to do their job and give you a yes or no answer.  With the N-400 you can ask the court to make a decision on your application for naturalization.  The filing fee is $402. and there are resources available for pro se plaintiffs (diy) in Maryland.  Prisoners do it all the time.   This is a case from Maryland that gave me the idea in the first place; however, it concerns a different immigration issue that was delayed unreasonably.  All you need is to write up a complaint, summons and service of process which probably get the USCIS to act on your case but there is no guarantee of that and you might have a court case on your hands.    This is the case that inspired me from Maryland.  However, it is on a different immigration issue but it gives you an idea.   The plaintiffs dropped the case when the USCIS sent the case to DOS for visa processing.

 

"11. Preet Kamal is the spouse of Vishal Thakur and is the spouse visa petitioner for Vishal Thakur’s immigrant visa application.
12. Under federal immigration law, USCIS is authorized to approve a spouse visa application filed by a U.S. citizen and to issue an immigrant visa to allow the spouse to enter the U.S. and obtain lawful permanent resident status.
13. Vishal Thakur is a citizen of India.
14. Preet Kamal filed a visa petition for Vishal Thakur with the USCIS on January 15,
2020. The receipt number is IOE0908273365.
15. Plaintiff paid, and Defendants accepted, all applicable filing and visa fees.
16. USCIS has failed to adjudicate Plaintiff’s I-130 spouse visa petition.
17. Preet Kamal has made repeated attempts to obtain a decision in this matter
without involving this honorable Court. Plaintiff has contacted USCIS multiple times. This has led nowhere.
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
(Agency Action Unlawfully Withheld and Unreasonably Delayed)
For their first claim for relief against all Defendants, Plaintiff alleges and states as follows:
18. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates by reference the foregoing paragraphs as
though fully set out herein.
19. The APA requires that “[w]ith due regard for the convenience and necessity of the
parties or their representatives and within a reasonable time, each agency shall proceed to conclude a matter presented to it.” 5 U.S.C. § 555(b). Section 555(b) creates a non- discretionary duty to conclude agency matters. Litton Microwave Cooking Prods. v. NLRB, 949 F.2d 249, 253 (8th Cir. 1991). A violation of this duty is a sufficient basis for mandamus relief."

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the deailed info!