Writ against NVC

[AKKH 48]

Hi VJ members, 

 

We are waiting for a F2A visa appointment since June 2020. And talking with embassy or NVC hasn’t been helpful. The embassy at Beirut says NVC hasn’t sent us anything, NVC says embassy hasn’t scheduled anything for you. And they wouldn’t give out any sort of information or insights.
I’m not sure how the US embassy at Beirut is prioritizing the cases. 

 

Recently, I have seen a few lawyers claiming that if you are waiting for more than a year, you can file a lawsuit against the Dept. Of State. So they would make a decision on your case. 
 

Although this takes time and money, I wanted to know your opinion. What is the timeline of getting any answer or if positive or negative feedback. 
 

I understand that immigration takes time, needs patience, and is a big project, but 3.5 years passed since we applied and our life is not stable and we are not even sure if we can get the visa. Aside that, the cost of travels, getting vacation to meet, and etc. is another burden. And of course, you can’t plan for anything until you can start your life and have an idea. 
 

Thank you very much! 

 

 

[canadian_wife 1,791]

That decision may be a denial.  Are you prepared for that because you forced their hand and they had not finished with your case and could not approve you?

 

good luck

[AKKH 48]

54 minutes ago, canadian_wife said:

That decision may be a denial.  Are you prepared for that because you forced their hand and they had not finished with your case and could not approve you?

 

good luck

Hi

 

What the lawyers are saying is the court would force NVC/US Embassy to proceed with the visa interview. Not sure it there has been a writ of mandamus against NVC. 
 
Thanks for your response. 

[NJS 12]

Its a bit heavy handed approach recommended by lawyers to extract more money likely further complicate things with NVC and embassy. When the COVID situation goes away, things should get back to normal for all government agencies. 

[arken 4,197]

2 hours ago, AKKH said:

What the lawyers are saying is the court would force NVC/US Embassy to proceed with the visa interview.

That may have been true  precovid. Very unlikely it can do so now if there are hundreds if not thousands of people ahead of you waiting for the interview. Lawsuits can't force the embassy to not adhere any covid policies to cramp lots of people in the room for interviews or have all embassy staffs appear for work regardless of local covid situation or even if they are covid +ve or showing symptoms.

Edited September 9, 2021 by arken

[AKKH 48]

44 minutes ago, NJS said:

Its a bit heavy handed approach recommended by lawyers to extract more money likely further complicate things with NVC and embassy. When the COVID situation goes away, things should get back to normal for all government agencies. 

Covid situation won’t go away soon, as you hear something new everyday. Many people and businesses are living and dealing with this and so should the embassies. 
 

The least they can do is to provide people some meaningful & truthful information about the queue, it is not that complex — I’m sure the government would help us to plan better, work better and at least make sure one day you will be called. 
 

thank you 

[AKKH 48]

47 minutes ago, arken said:

That may have been true  precovid. Very unlikely it can do so now if there are hundreds if not thousands of people ahead of you waiting for the interview. Lawsuits can't force the embassy to not adhere any covid policies to cramp lots of people in the room for interviews or have all embassy staffs appear for work regardless of local covid situation or even if they are covid +ve or showing symptoms.

I agree that this could be a good reason to not success, even as an excuse. 

[HRQX 4,145]

11 hours ago, AKKH said:

Not sure it there has been a writ of mandamus against NVC.

Since IVs differ a lot from K visas then the results may be very different, but recently there was a mandamus against NVC for K visa cases and the NVC's negative actions were unexpected:

[SalishSea 16,835]

14 hours ago, AKKH said:

Hi

 

What the lawyers are saying is the court would force NVC/US Embassy to proceed with the visa interview. Not sure it there has been a writ of mandamus against NVC. 
 
Thanks for your response. 

There have been lots, and lots.  People sue the department of state all the time.

 

If you proceed, you need to be aware that the decision may be one you weren't necessarily hoping for.

[aaron2020 11,651]

You're wasting money.

 

Trump's ban and COVID backed everything up.  I know F2a and F2b cases that were scheduled for interviews in March 2020 that were cancelled and haven't been rescheduled.  Those people are ahead of your family in line.  Your family will have to wait in line like everyone else.  Lots of US embassies and consulates are not interviewing for visas because they are complying with local COVID orders.  

Your case is not going to move until the local US Embassy/Consulate can start interviewing people again when COVID restrictions are lifted.  That's the reality that we live in now.  You're not going to force anyone to interview your family when COVID restrictions are ongoing.

[JacobP 185]

18 hours ago, canadian_wife said:

That decision may be a denial.  Are you prepared for that because you forced their hand and they had not finished with your case and could not approve you?

 

good luck

Are there any examples of someone's case being denied because of a writ of mandamus? This is a common response to the subject on here, but I haven't seen an example of it happening.

[Bill Hamze 89]

2 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

You're wasting money.

 

Trump's ban and COVID backed everything up.  I know F2a and F2b cases that were scheduled for interviews in March 2020 that were cancelled and haven't been rescheduled.  Those people are ahead of your family in line.  Your family will have to wait in line like everyone else.  Lots of US embassies and consulates are not interviewing for visas because they are complying with local COVID orders.  

Your case is not going to move until the local US Embassy/Consulate can start interviewing people again when COVID restrictions are lifted.  That's the reality that we live in now.  You're not going to force anyone to interview your family when COVID restrictions are ongoing.

Agreed. 

 

I was going to hold off on our visa application, but when Vietnam went into a hard lockdown, we decided to push our case through NVC as soon as possible knowing that there will be a months-long back log of interviews after the consulate here has been closed for several months. So we're trying to "get in line" so to speak. 

 

If I don't get a checklist, and we get DQ'ed before October-ish, and things open up at the end of the year, we should be able to get an interview in March-April, and move to the states soon after... which is pretty close to the timeline that we planned on all along.  

 

[canadian_wife 1,791]

2 hours ago, JacobP said:

Are there any examples of someone's case being denied because of a writ of mandamus? This is a common response to the subject on here, but I haven't seen an example of it happening.

Did you read the link HRQX posted?

 

good luck

[HRQX 4,145]

2 hours ago, JacobP said:

Are there any examples of someone's case being denied because of a writ of mandamus?

Yup, many Plaintiffs unfortunately experienced adverse effect as a result of the mandamus they filed:

8 hours ago, HRQX said:

recently there was a mandamus against NVC for K visa cases and the NVC's negative actions were unexpected:

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by HRQX

[JacobP 185]

7 hours ago, canadian_wife said:

Did you read the link HRQX posted?

 

good luck

I read the thread and the impression I got was that some WoM cases weren't succeeding in the first place (as in the writ was never granted by the court), not that negative action was being made in response to the WoM, with the "expired K-1 petitions" being a separate issue. 

 

And even then, for cases such as IR-1, there's no such thing as a petition expiring. Has someone had their IR-1 denied as a direct result to a WoM?