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

[skyhigh7]

New to this forum

Hi, I am new to this forum.

Everybody is doing a terrific job here. This is very useful. Thanks for organizing this forum.

My situation is N400 filed and interviewed on 6/6/06, and name check pending . I am thinking of file suite against USCIS afte 121 days.

 

[kenny485]

He sent the letter to directors of USCIS, San Antonio, TX. My case was pending there. Immigration lawyers don't need to be from your city or state. It's always good if you find one in your city though.

Hi ja06,
Thank you for your response. Can you upload a copy of the intent to sue letter so that it may help others, and you can remove your personal information from it. If you cannot upload it, please email it to me and I will post it for the rest of the forum.
Thanks..

 

[rachra]

Writ of Mandamus [I-485]

I have been reading the messages on this thread with awe. There are alot of very knowledgeable people here. I am thinking about filing a writ of mandamus for my pending I-485 but would like to get some advise as to whether this is a viable remedy for my case. Following is my timeline..

I went for the I-485 interview on November 22, 2005. I was told to file an I-601 waiver of exclusivility within 30 days.
I filed the I-601 ON December 14, 2005 via certified mail.

On April 4, 2006 I went to the Washington District Office to check on the status of my case. The officer at the counter sent me upstairs to see another officer. Upon reviewing my file, the 2nd officer stated that the I-601 that I filed on December 14, 2005 never made it to my file. Luckily I had a copy of my application, copy of the cancelled check and return receipt which I gave to her. She stated that It takes between 30 & 60 days to hear back from them and that I should make another infopass appt and enquire about my case if I do not hear from them.

On June 15, 2006 I again went to the Washington District Office and this time the officer at the counter told me that they were processing my case and that it takes upto a year to get a reply. What was strange is that he wasn't aware that I had gone for an interview already. He seemed taken aback when informed him of that little piece of news. He then stated that since it had been more than 15 months since I had my fingerprints taken, they had expired so I should have that done. I had my fingerprints retaken the very next day.
Looking at the above timeline, can I file for a writ of mandamus? I am afraid that they will not process my case unless I force them to.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Haddy]

Feedback needed from every one...

Alright guys this is the general look of what I am preparing... I need your honet feedback... Bo, Greencard, Mohamed, Suzy, pharmboy, all my friends... You are all welcome to use this if feel comfortable... Now I need all your special attention... Even if you think that some citations can be put in their and some case examples can be put in their please be my guest and let me know...

 

[mohamedmohamed]

Alright guys this is the general look of what I am preparing... I need your honet feedback... Bo, Greencard, Mohamed, Suzy, pharmboy, all my friends... You are all welcome to use this if feel comfortable... Now I need all your special attention... Even if you think that some citations can be put in their and some case examples can be put in their please be my guest and let me know...

only one minor thing, since this is an I 485 application , the court can not adudicate your application, but what they can do it to declare the uscis/FBI delay excessive , and unreasonable , and order them to finish your name check/adjudicate your case in a period of time the court sees practical and fair to both of you.
in short , you cant ask the court to adjudicate your case, what you can ask is to declare the delay excessive, unreasonable , and order the fbi/uscis to finish your name check/approve your application withine a definite period of time, so you should fix that.
good luck

 

[Haddy]

only one minor thing, since this is an I 485 application , the court can not adudicate your application, but what they can do it to declare the uscis/FBI delay excessive , and unreasonable , and order them to finish your name check/adjudicate your case in a period of time the court sees practical and fair to both of you.
in short , you cant ask the court to adjudicate your case, what you can ask is to declare the delay excessive, unreasonable , and order the fbi/uscis to finish your name check/approve your application withine a definite period of time, so you should fix that.
good luck

I added this:

This is Plaintiff’s understanding that the Defendants have a special laison office in every USCIS district office which works very closely with FBI to finish the processing of cases like Plaintiff’s case. It is the Defendant’s duty to whether it be computerized processing or manual processing USCIS of DHS hence the Defendants finish the adjudication and processing on Plaintiff’s case within this time. And if Defendants fail to do so then this honorable court should declare and practice strict action all in its power on the Defendants to declare the delay excessive, unreasonable, and order the USCIS of DHS to finish the Plaintiff’s name check and adjudicate the Plaintiff’s green card application within a definite period of time. At that time this honorable court can also award the Plaintiff with all reasonable lawyer fees, court fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act and all such other relief at law and in equity as justice may require.

What do you think???

 

[ZUR]

Re-apply

I understand that most of the people filing 1447B here have been interviewed by the INS and are stuck in the name-check and are getting favourable decisions.

I have a slightly different case...my N-400 is from July 14th 2003 and I have not been interviewed (I received a interview notice which got cancelled 5 days later in 2004)...and my case is pending in the name-check...

Since the 120 days time-clock begins after the interview is over...I am guessing the INS has to do something about such cases...but in my case there is no time-limit since they can just point to the FBI...

My question is do we know/have people who have had favourable results after filing a Mandamus...without being interviewed?

what do you you guys think, I should do ?

thanks

You can take every one else's advice to sue using Writ of Mandamus, but why not re-file your N-400 application? Suzy977 has done two concurrent applications at the same time, may be she can give you a better advice. You have nothing to loose. If I were you, I would re-file it but in a different district. For example if your original district was LA, CA, then make the new filing from Portland, OR.

 

[Suzy977]

You can take every one else's advice to sue using Writ of Mandamus, but why not re-file your N-400 application? Suzy977 has done two concurrent applications at the same time, may be she can give you a better advice. You have nothing to loose. If I were you, I would re-file it but in a different district. For example if your original district was LA, CA, then make the new filing from Portland, OR.

I just lost $400 plus the waste of time to go for FP.
Moreover, after my name check was cleared and I had my oath in LA, 2 days later I got a letter from USCIS that my oath is descheduled

One week after the oath I got an invitation for...interview

Of course, I never attended the interview, and I'm still wondering why they didn't send me a notice that my N-400 is denied since I failed to attend the interview

I now another member here who applied (him and his sister) for citizenship in LA and got stuck in the FBI's name check mess.
One year later, they, both, reapplied for N-400. His sister got her oath without anybody knowing that she had 2 N-400 applications. Him, got stuck again in the name check, and USCIS also figured out that he has 2 applications...

 

[BoFromUkr]

i agree with you in the part that they definitely dont have anythign against you, but them requesting nam check expedit is a good maneuver, so they will like if they did all they can( at least on the UScis side) and that will get a lot of credit from the judge, which will make a bit harder on you to prove otherwise.
secondly i think it is only a matter of time before everything is cleared and done, sure it have to bee a reasonable time but am sure it is a lot easier for them to connvince the court that a period of a (moth, 45 days ) is reasonable, since the fbi are busy, and have a limited number of expedited checks they can do in a priod of a week, or a month( as one here have mentioned, about 50 per month, or per week, Not really sure) buti think a request of extention will give you a chance to give them a chance, and by the ebd of the extention you can say to the court, that it is clear that they are not serious about resolving the matter, and then it is more likely taht you will have the sympathy of thecourt.

The namecheck was expedited over 2 months ago. I do not think waiting another month or two will give me any 'sympathy' benefits in front of the Judge. In addition, the court system is extremely slow, hence an actual Hearing won't occur for at least another 90 days.

 

[BoFromUkr]

Hey Haddy,

Overall, I think your document looks good.

Since you are just requesting an extention to file a response to defendent's motion, I feel like you could even make it much simpler (shorter), may be even one sentence.

I still think you need to file an actual response to their motion sooner or later (unless you get GC in meantime).

The lawsuit is the serious matter, thus you should not show any 'weakness' to US Aty. Strike back strong and hard with your response, show that you have enough to win the case - this will make them move again.

 

[greencard12]

Alright guys this is the general look of what I am preparing... I need your honet feedback... Bo, Greencard, Mohamed, Suzy, pharmboy, all my friends... You are all welcome to use this if feel comfortable... Now I need all your special attention... Even if you think that some citations can be put in their and some case examples can be put in their please be my guest and let me know...

Haddy,

Why did you not cite any previous cases in your counter-motion? Also, I think it would be lengthy and redundunt to describe your situation again since I am sure you already put it in your original complaint.

 

[RealSuperK]

Crap, have been away for a while on work travel and looks like the thread doubled in content. Besides, I think my Tivo will grow legs and run away shortly since it's been working so hard recording all those World Cup matches so that I can watch 'em all after I come back from work

Anyway, Haddy, I think your stuff looks good. Don't forget that it's not like a test, there is no 100% correct answer.

K

 

[Haddy]

I just lost $400 plus the waste of time to go for FP.
Moreover, after my name check was cleared and I had my oath in LA, 2 days later I got a letter from USCIS that my oath is descheduled

One week after the oath I got an invitation for...interview

Of course, I never attended the interview, and I'm still wondering why they didn't send me a notice that my N-400 is denied since I failed to attend the interview

I now another member here who applied (him and his sister) for citizenship in LA and got stuck in the FBI's name check mess.
One year later, they, both, reapplied for N-400. His sister got her oath without anybody knowing that she had 2 N-400 applications. Him, got stuck again in the name check, and USCIS also figured out that he has 2 applications...

I think they have no idea what in the hell is going on... i went to an infopass right after i recd the motion to dismiss from AUSA on my case... just to confirm if by any chance they can confirm if in real my name check was expedited,.. they infopass rep (who is the rudest woman rep i have ever seen in USCIS) on the window including their supervisor had no idea if my name check was expedited... if you remember my case the declaration of Luis Borges who is also a supervisory in designation said that my name check was expedited... i knew what i was getting into in the uscis district office... felt like i was in bunch of m-r-ns dum f$@#$%^ ideots... i thaught there is no use banging my head into the walls... in the i surrendered and told them probably their system is different than the people system above them and that is why they dont know about my case... so I HEAR YA... I think the only solution to get USCIS to work properly would be by overhauling the whole internal system of USCIs from top to bottom..... I think govt will have to hire an auditing firm and clean the mess up... this whole thing is just dumm... first they yell at ya and then they make you feel like criminals... anyways... i am sorry i just had to s--t it out... sorry Suzy. and everyone else... i just could not resist... apologize for bad mouth...

 

[drgeorge]

I got a mail from USCIS today and can't believe it is the oath letter!

I was interviewed back in end of the march and got "decision can't
be made". My name check is pending as of last month, and I thought
lawsuite is only way out... but looks like sometimes miracle does happen!

Good luck to all of you in the forum!!

Congrats ejb2k! I got my hopes and called National Customer Service, my interview was 3/8. The lady did not know what she was doing, and said I have to give them 120 days. I suspect she did not even pull up my status.

I told her that the law is that I can sue in 120 days. She did not like that bit for some reason.

Anyway, I found an attorney who agreed to do it for $2000. I founf him from PACER, he had filed a few 1447(b) cases in Chicago. Planning to file on 7/10 - 122nd day

drgeorge

 

[drgeorge]

After calling the National Service Center, I just called the Chicago office..

"We don't do status over the phone.. Either FAX or get an Infopass appointment...

It will take 30 to 60 days for us to respond by mail..

"

Aren't they asking for more lawsuits?

drgeorge

 

[buggin]

Advice on your brief

I added this:

This is Plaintiff’s understanding that the Defendants have a special laison office in every USCIS district office which works very closely with FBI to finish the processing of cases like Plaintiff’s case. ......
What do you think???

Haddy,

Sorry, I didn't get to your brief until now.... Anyway, I read through it and here is my advice: You need to rethink it.

1. Think about what you really want to ask the court to do. It appears to me that, in your brief, you are asking the court to give a 30-day extension to defendants to adjudicate your case. You can't do this. You are a plaintiff. You can only ask the court to grant extensions to you. For example, you can ask the court to allow you more time to file your Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. And if you do ask for it, you need to state the reasoning/argument - why the court should grant it to you.

2. I agree with BoFromUkr that you do need to file your answer to defendant's motion to dismiss. You need to file your argument with the court on why the court shouldn't grant the defendants' motion. Otherwise, it would look that you do not oppose this motion.

3. I disagree with Greencard12 on the factual background of your case. Normally, in a motion (every motion or opposition to a motion filed) you put "Statement of Facts." Even though you already have your facts in the complaint, the judge woulnd't want to flip back and forth between the two documents (it is just inconvenient). Also, a motion can be heard by a different judge or a magistrate judge (not the one assigned to your case). This judge might not know the facts of your original complaint. So, almost every pleading you file with the court has a "Statement of Facts" section.

Hope this helps. Good luck, Haddy.

 

[buggin]

After calling the National Service Center, I just called the Chicago office..

"We don't do status over the phone.. Either FAX or get an Infopass appointment...

It will take 30 to 60 days for us to respond by mail..

"

Aren't they asking for more lawsuits?

drgeorge

Drgeorge,
I called the National Service Center a few times and a couple of people I talked to were very nice and professional. If you get a moron when you call, hang up and try to call later. Eventually, you'll get to talk to a good employee.
Whenever I called them, all I had to do was to tell them that I was calling to find out the status of my N400 application and that I wanted to file an inquiry. They would file it right then. In 1-2 weeks I would receive a formal letter telling me that the status of my application was "pending FBI background investigation." Even though the status was the same every time and not the one that I wanted, when I filed my petition with the court, I attached all the status letters to my complaint as exhibits. Maybe one way or another, it helps to call and inquire.

 

[cajack]

drgeorge:

I live in California and I talked to an attorney in San Francisco. I want to do the same thing you do to look him up in the pacer. Could you share with me your experience and steps of doing it?

Thanks,

Jack

Congrats ejb2k! I got my hopes and called National Customer Service, my interview was 3/8. The lady did not know what she was doing, and said I have to give them 120 days. I suspect she did not even pull up my status.

I told her that the law is that I can sue in 120 days. She did not like that bit for some reason.

Anyway, I found an attorney who agreed to do it for $2000. I founf him from PACER, he had filed a few 1447(b) cases in Chicago. Planning to file on 7/10 - 122nd day

drgeorge

 

[fightback]

I dont feel very good after looking at the case in Northern FL district from PACER. There an't much of the case and from what I saw most of the cases were denied. It seems the judge is in favor of the INS. I do feel very bad and am thinking maybe I need to find a good lawyer to help if they deny my case. This is what I have now(PACER Docket):
Report and Recommendation.-Action is required to the undersigned upon receipt of a response to the complaint by Defendants, or no later than 09/14/06 . Signed by Judge WILLIAM ...

What does that mean? They issued me summons on 6/7/06 with 60 days on it. Why here is 9/14/06? Can someone help me please? Thank you very much!

 

[buggin]

I dont feel very good after looking at the case in Northern FL district from PACER. There an't much of the case and from what I saw most of the cases were denied. It seems the judge is in favor of the INS. I do feel very bad and am thinking maybe I need to find a good lawyer to help if they deny my case. This is what I have now(PACER Docket):
Report and Recommendation.-Action is required to the undersigned upon receipt of a response to the complaint by Defendants, or no later than 09/14/06 . Signed by Judge WILLIAM ...

What does that mean? They issued me summons on 6/7/06 with 60 days on it. Why here is 9/14/06? Can someone help me please? Thank you very much!

Fightback,

Without having the details, it is hard to tell what this means.
The summons that you got is for the defendants; it tells the defendants that they are being sued and they have 60 days to file their response.
Looking at your comment, it seems to me that the "action" is something different, something that need to happen after the defendants' response is filed.
Again, I can't tell what it means without more info.
I would also like to tell you not to get discouraged after looking at other cases you find on PACER. Some of them could have been dismissed because the USCIS had resolved the matter. Some of them could have been denied because the plaintiff's name check had hits. Who knows, every case is different. So, stay your course and believe in your Forum name Fightback.