Anyone with a lawsuit against USCIS or thinking about a lawsuit (Merged)

Is there any use in filing to USCIS under Freedom of Information Act to get my A-File

Hello,

Is there any use in filing to USCIS under Freedom of Information Act to
get my Alien-file ? I'm curious to see what they have about me, any screwed-up/mysteries etc.

At least, there is no harm, right ?

I've been stuck in FBI name-check for 1.5 years after my naturalization
interview on Mar. 7, 2006. I've started to do quite a few things. Apart from writing to senators/congressman, I've done filing FOIPA to FBI and got no record. I'm trying to do everything possible before trying the lawsuit approach.

Kin
 
Last edited by a moderator:
xiaocao said:
AGC4ME and Lazycis,

Thank you very much.
Actually, I called them and visited our local FBI office at the exact same location as shown on above webside in this July. They said they have nothing to do with the name checks and an officer suggested me call a number (202-324-5853). I did. But it is not associated with name checks.
Click to expand...

I am not sure calling them is going to do much good. A friend of mine is an agent in the local FBI office. He contacted the department in Washington handing name-checks to see what he could find out.

They refused to give him any information unless it was related to an active criminal investigation.

I hope you have better luck
 
kinyip said:
Hello,

Is there any use in filing to USCIS under Freedom of Information Act to
get my Alien-file ? I'm curious to see what they have about me, any screwed-up/mysteries etc.

At least, there is no harm, right ?

I've been stuck in FBI name-check for 1.5 years after my naturalization
interview on Mar. 7, 2006. I've started to do quite a few things. Apart from writing to senators/congressman, I've done filing FOIPA to FBI and got no record. I'm trying to do everything possible before trying the lawsuit approach.

Kin
Click to expand...

There is no harm, but you won't find a reason behind the delay, because it does not exist and if it does, it's not in your A-file. Go ahead and request a copy, it may come in handy for your reference and in other cases (if USCIS loses your A-file, you'll have a copy). There is a special form for USCIS FOIPA requests on their site.
 
xiaocao said:
AGC4ME and Lazycis,

Thank you very much.
Actually, I called them and visited our local FBI office at the exact same location as shown on above webside in this July. They said they have nothing to do with the name checks and an officer suggested me call a number (202-324-5853). I did. But it is not associated with name checks.
Click to expand...

Writing a letter may have different effect. So I would still advise to write a letter to FBI agent in charge for your region and ask him to inquire about your NC with NNCP. It all depends on the official, whether he/she is sympathetic to your cause or not. I'd write to Mr. Chertoff and Mr. Gonzalez also and to the person who will head US DOJ starting next week.
 
lazycis said:
Writing a letter may have different effect. So I would still advise to write a letter to FBI agent in charge for your region and ask him to inquire about your NC with NNCP. It all depends on the official, whether he/she is sympathetic to your cause or not. I'd write to Mr. Chertoff and Mr. Gonzalez also and to the person who will head US DOJ starting next week.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your advice, Lazycis.
I will do it during this weekend.

Xiaocao
 
Xiaocao

Did you get any feedback from the court clerk regarding your informal brief? I mean, is there any timeframe for the appellate court to enter a formal briefing scheduling order?
 
lazycis said:
Did you get any feedback from the court clerk regarding your informal brief? I mean, is there any timeframe for the appellate court to enter a formal briefing scheduling order?
Click to expand...

Not yet. I do not know the timeframe for the court to enter a scheduling order. I checked the court's homepage, but I could not find it.
Thank you very much for your concern, Lazycis.
I do not know what I should prepare for.

Xiaocao
 
expedited hearing

lazycis,
I intend to submit my MSJ tomorrow. Here's my question. I am thinking of asking for expedited hearing on MSJ because FY 07 is coming to an end and Plaintiffs have fair reason to believe that USCIS might have unused visa numbers. Will this be considered just a conjunction or will the court accept this argument. I'll be attaching the page from Ombudsman report to congress to buttress my argument but I don't have solid proof that USCIS does have any unused visa numbers.
 
You can use the fact that visa number were unavailable for August, but became available in September, which means USCIS requested too many numbers. The July visa bulletin reversal story is a good one too. You can point that USCIS tends to request more numbers than it can use.
 
Yeah, I forgot about per country limitations. Not sure what can be done... Just in case ask court to enter judgment ordering USCIS to adjudicate within 30 days after visa number becomes available (as an alternative)
 
Anyone have any experience with the attorneys at Litwin and Associates (SF and Santa Clara) in filing WOM suits? This is in the Northern District of CA.

Any other recommendations for attorneys in the Northern District of CA? It appears that at the very least doing your own filing takes time -- so even though I've done some basic research, I'd like to explore the possibility of hiring an attorney in case work gets out of control right as I want to file my WOM.

Thanks!
Setmefree
 
Make sure to appear for your hearings even if you have hired an attorney

For those of us who have hired an attorney;
I had gone to the courtroom for a hearing scheduled a week prior to my own MTD hearing in order to get some idea. I was surprised about the conversation between the attorney for immigrant and the AUSA. It was surprising how sympathetic the attorney was with the USCIS and FBI. He was actually citing an unfavorable case in the district in which MTD was granted in a 50 months delayed name check. He added when 50 months is reasonable, two years (his client case) for sure would not be unreasonable. To ensure he is defending his client, he added that he is very conservative and believes that no one should mess with FBI name check.
The bottom-line is that make sure you appear in court for hearing even if you have an attorney so that he cannot betray you or downplay your case.
 
Slow_CIS said:
For those of us who have hired an attorney;
I had gone to the courtroom for a hearing scheduled a week prior to my own MTD hearing in order to get some idea. I was surprised about the conversation between the attorney for immigrant and the AUSA. It was surprising how sympathetic the attorney was with the USCIS and FBI. He was actually citing an unfavorable case in the district in which MTD was granted in a 50 months delayed name check. He added when 50 months is reasonable, two years (his client case) for sure would not be unreasonable. To ensure he is defending his client, he added that he is very conservative and believes that no one should mess with FBI name check.
The bottom-line is that make sure you appear in court for hearing even if you have an attorney so that he cannot betray you or downplay your case.
Click to expand...

Never trust anyone regarding your own welfare. BTW how did the hearing go ?
 
you know it was not my hearing. But before the hearing started, the clerk of the court called both attorneys to the chamber, and rescheduled the hearing for the next month.
I asked the attorney what happened and they said they cannot talk about it. My guess is that the judge who is very anti-government warned the ausa and gave him an oral instruction to do something. But there is no way I can know since it was not my case.
 
lawyers bay area

Hi,

>Anyone have any experience with the attorneys at Litwin >and Associates (SF and Santa Clara) in filing WOM suits? >This is in the Northern District of CA.

He is a lawyer that believes a person should pay him whatever he asks; no bargaining.


>
>Any other recommendations for attorneys in the Northern >District of CA? It appears that at the very least doing >your own filing takes time -- so even though I've done >some basic research, I'd like to explore the possibility of >hiring an attorney in case work gets out of control right >as I want to file my WOM.

I went with Shah Peerally, and he did a really good job in my case, and always replied promptly to all my inquiries.

Do a search under my id for my other posts, about lawyers in the bay area.




>Thanks!
>Setmefree
 
peaceman57 said:
Hi,

>Anyone have any experience with the attorneys at Litwin >and Associates (SF and Santa Clara) in filing WOM suits? >This is in the Northern District of CA.

He is a lawyer that believes a person should pay him whatever he asks; no bargaining.


>
>Any other recommendations for attorneys in the Northern >District of CA? It appears that at the very least doing >your own filing takes time -- so even though I've done >some basic research, I'd like to explore the possibility of >hiring an attorney in case work gets out of control right >as I want to file my WOM.

I went with Shah Peerally, and he did a really good job in my case, and always replied promptly to all my inquiries.

Do a search under my id for my other posts, about lawyers in the bay area.
Click to expand...

Peaceman, thanks for taking the time to respond. May I ask what Peerally charged you and what some of the other quotes were?

A general question for the veterans -- do all MTDs involve a hearing? Or does it sometimes happen that the MTD and the Opposition to the MTD briefs are filed and the judge just rules on them?

The reason I ask is that apparently many attorneys do not include time spent in court as part of the services covered by the WOM retainer.

Thanks again, you all are just amazing.

Setmefree
 
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