California Immigration Lawyer Blog

There was recently an article in the Washington Post which indicated that USCIS' backlog was "virtually gone." I have noticed in my San Francisco law firm that most cases are being adjudicated in a timely manner, but there are many that are not. What can you do if your case is one that has been delayed? Here are my suggestions:

• Make an InfoPass appointment. If you have an adjustment of status application or naturalization application that is pending at a local office, make an InfoPass appointment and see what the USCIS officer can tell you. While you may not find out anything, it is important to begin building a record of inquiries if you should decide later to pursue a mandamus application or petition for hearing in federal court, as I will discuss below.
• Write a letter to USCIS. Again, you may learn nothing but it costs only $0.44 to send a letter so it is an inexpensive method by which you can try to determine why your case is being delayed.
• Call the USCIS customer service center number at 1-800-375-5283. Again, perhaps another waste of time, but InfoPass appointments and calls to the 1-800 customer service number are tracked by USCIS. It forces them to send out correspondence. Proof of making such inquiries will help you if you decide to file a case a mandamus or petition for hearing in federal court.
• Write to your Congressional representative. You can use the Congressional Representative website to find your representative. You will receive some kind of response as USCIS will respond to a member of Congress, if not to you.
• File a petition for hearing on naturalization on a naturalization application pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Section 1447(b). If you were interviewed at USCIS and your interview took place more than 180 days ago, you may file a petition for hearing on your naturalization application in federal court. While USCIS may have cleared up its backlog of background checks, I am still seeing cases delayed at USCIS where applicants have been interviewed over 120 days ago. Most of these cases tend to come out of the San Jose field office. There is not a justifiable reason for this delay that I can see.
• File a mandamus application in federal court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1361 A mandamus is an action to compel a federal agency to carry out a duty owed to the applicant. An example of when this would be used is if you file an adjustment application but USCIS never adjudicates it. It may be used in all sorts of contexts – adjustment, political asylum, visa petitions or naturalization applications if you have not been interviewed. You must allow a reasonable period of time to pass before filing a mandamus. A reasonable time is generally a year since the last action took place. It is a good idea to show that you have tried everything in your power to resolve the case such as inquiries, InfoPass appointments, etc.

Mandamus petitions and petitions for hearing on naturalization applications do work. I have been successful in many cases. If you wish to discuss your case with a San Francisco Bay Area immigration attorney, please feel free to contact me.