Litigation for Delays in Residency Papers and Citizenship

In a small percentage of cases, USCIS is delaying by years the granting or denying of citizenship applications, or the scheduling of an initial interview for a citizenship case. If you are in this situation, you can file a petition for mandamus relief with a federal district court.  By filing for mandamus relief, you are asking the court to order USCIS to make a decision on your citizenship application.  You are not asking the court to approve or deny your application.

A mandamus lawsuit must be filed in the federal district court that has jurisdiction over the director of the local USCIS office that has refused to take action on the application.  The court may grant or deny your naturalization application, or the court may send your case back to USCIS with instructions to make a decision on your application.

USCIS blames the FBI name check process for the delay. Regardless of who is to blame, most FBI name checks are completed within six months, and no name check should drag on for years and years. The Immigration and Nationality Act requires USCIS to grant or deny your citizenship application within 120 days of your naturalization interview. Like courts around the country, the Fifth Circuit (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi) has ruled that whether the FBI name check is complete or not, the law requires that USCIS make a decision within 120 days of the interview.

If more than 120 days have passed since your citizenship interview and USCIS has failed to make a decision on your application or if you believe USCIS is unreasonably delaying the scheduling of your citizenship interview, please contact us immediately to begin investigation into your case.

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