✔️You check the status and submit an inquiry. You receive the standard response: “Your case is under review.” So, you wait again. But there comes a time when, instead of sending yet another inquiry to USCIS, you need to determine if there are grounds to file a lawsuit in federal court. In my 18 years of practice as an immigration attorney, I have handled cases where the Writ of Mandamus proved to be the best strategy.
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✅This is a federal lawsuit, its goal is not to ask the court to approve your green card, citizenship, or other petition. The court is not supposed to step into USCIS’s shoes and adjudicate the immigration case itself.
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✔️The essence is different: the petitioner asks the federal court to compel the government agency to fulfill its duty and make a decision on a case that is being unreasonably delayed. Federal law explicitly allows for legal action to compel agency action that has been “unreasonably delayed.”
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❗️But there is a crucial point here! A Mandamus action doesn’t work on the principle of: “My case has been pending for nine months, I’m fed up, let’s sue.”
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⚠️Before filing, I examine:
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how long this specific category of cases actually takes to process
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how much the current timeframe deviates from the norm
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inquiries have been made to USCIS
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an objective explanation for the delay
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exactly what is holding up the case
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what kind of government response to expect after filing the lawsuit
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issues within the immigration case that need to be assessed first
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‼️A Mandamus demands action from the government, not necessarily a positive outcome. The result of that action could theoretically be an approval, an RFE (Request for Evidence), a NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny), or a denial. That is why, before filing a federal lawsuit, I always ask a question first: “If we force the government to open your case file tomorrow, are we prepared for what they might find in there?” ⠀
✔️Sometimes, it is wiser to get your primary immigration case in order first. If your petition or application has been pending for an unusually long time, it makes sense to look beyond just processing times and consider potential federal strategies.
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Irina Lust
Immigration attorney
18 years of experience
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