backlog delay sued BCIS and got approved case thru marriage, good example

K

kash777

Registered Users (C)
From newsletter Carl Shusterman ,immigration attorney dated 10.11.2003 :

6. Mandamus Actions: Make the Government Work for You!
What are the most popular pages on our web site?

The government processing times!

This is no surprise since it takes the government over two years to process an
application for adjustment of status, and over six months to process a simple
H-1B petition.

Recently, we were retained to represent a young woman who had obtained
conditional permanent residence through her marriage to a U.S. citizen. The
marriage failed to last two years beyond the date that she adjusted her status.

She submitted an application (I-751) to remove the two-year condition on her
green card and to waive the joint petition requirement. She waited three years
for the INS to process her application. Then she moved to Los Angeles, and was
told that her application would go to the back of the line, and she would have
to wait another three years!

She did not think this was fair, and neither did I. One of our attorneys made
an inquiry on her behalf, and received the same answer: three more years.

We wrote two certified letters to the government requesting an immediate
interview for our client. Then we went to the Federal Court and asked for a
"Writ of Mandamus" to require the government to make a decision on her
application.

After filing our law suit, we received a call from the U.S. Attorneys Office.
The U.S. Attorneys represent the Department of Homeland Security and other
federal agencies in court.

The Assistant U.S. Attorney informed us that we would be hearing from the
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) shortly.

The very next day, we received an appointment letter from the CIS scheduling an
interview for our client. We appeared with her at her interview, and the I-751
was approved on the same date. Our client is delighted and so are we. We are
now applying for naturalization on her behalf.

What is a Writ of Mandamus? It compels the government to perform a duty owed
to you. If you submitted an application for an immigration benefit, if it is
beyond the normal processing time, if you have made written inquiries about
your application, and the government has not responded, requesting a Writ of
Mandamus in Federal Court will get their attention. Trust me.

Unfortunately, many immigrants are afraid that the Immigration Service will
deny their applications in retribution if they ask for a Writ of Mandamus. All
I can say that after practicing immigration law for over 25 years, both for the
INS and in private practice, I have never seen this happen.

Some attorneys are afraid to go to Federal Court and sue the Immigration
Service.

Fortunately, the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) has published an
excellent Practice Advisory regarding how to file a mandamus action in Federal
Court which cites the relevant statutes and case law.

___________
 
Carl Shusterman might be the answer to our problems. since Rajiv seems to be very busy. He has won a similar case and is also on the board of advisors for isn.org.
These guys also got AC21 done. I think Rajiv will also support us in our endeavour to get this done.

What say you guys ???
 
Some of the credentials of Carl shusterman:
1. Former attorney for legacy INS.
2. Former chairman of AILA.
3. Testified before senate sub-committee on various immigration issues.
4. Succcessfully fought against INS on court, I think mostly deportation cases.
 
We should probably consult with Rajiv as to who he thinks is tough and will represent us well. Rajiv is a member of AILA and should be knowing the track record of these guys.
BTW. The current president of AILA is Palma Yanni . What we need is someone powerful with contacts .

Your thoughts guys ???
 
LAWSUIT

"Writ of Mandamus",

I was looking for this..proof to the people that do not believe in lawsuits..and this is just one of the reasons. Others include the most probably unallocated numbers for 2003, etc.

ACLU: My personal opinion is that they can help and it may be for free. If we can make the connection/relationship between the "Patriot Acts" 09/11 and the Backlogs, even better.

ACLU takes a lot of heat for being liberal and whatever but frankly I personally do not care if they can help! This is a CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE anyway.
 
yeah

"Writ of Mandamus" is the way to go...................................
Click to expand...

we could not keep hoping things will get better, the past year experiense just prove how wrong it was. we have to fight for it.
 
Re: What is ACLU ?

Originally posted by gambler
I know an attorney in ACLU ? Would it help ?
Click to expand...


It'll really help, ACLU fought for lot of civil rights issues. You should start discussing our issues with him and hear his opiniion about class action law suit against US CIS regarding backlog issue.
 
Re: yeah

Originally posted by lz25888
we could not keep hoping things will get better, the past year experiense just prove how wrong it was. we have to fight for it.
Click to expand...


US CIS cheats everyone by telling that they were not processing our case since they were processing religious workers case. Maximum visa limit of religious workers is only 5000 but only about 2500 applied under this category. It would not take more than 15 days to process this in all service centers, but we were told this excuse for months together. So every month we'll see something like this, don't expect some miracles to happen like some of us claims.

Please read the excerpt from AILA news from Washington:


WASHINGTON UPDATE
Volume 7, Number 12, October 10, 2003


While the law provides for up to 5,000 visas a year under the program, the number has remained
far below that cap. In fiscal year 2002, for example, 1,413 religious workers became permanent
residents through the special immigrant category, as did 1,714 spouses and children. (see H. Rpt.
108-271 at p. 2). Of that number, only 389 individuals arrived from abroad, while 87.6 percent
adjusted status in the United States. In the broader picture, religious workers comprise a very
small portion of total legal immigration to the United States—0.3 percent of the 1,063,732
immigrants in fiscal year 2002. (see CRS Report for Congress, “Immigration of Religious
Workers: Background and Legislation” (Sept. 30, 2003) at p. 3).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What is a Writ of Mandamus? It compels the government to perform a duty owed
to you. If you submitted an application for an immigration benefit, if it is
beyond the normal processing time, if you have made written inquiries about
your application, and the government has not responded, requesting a Writ of
Mandamus in Federal Court will get their attention. Trust me.


In the above what is date beyond the normal processing time. Is it the JIT or 999 days on the Reciept Notice or it is what the specialists say when we call the Natiional Customer service centre ( for e.g 18 months , ...20 months etc). I think there must a clarity on normal processing time to take advantage of Writ of Mandamus.
 
There are so many cases pending here. What about general Writ of Mandamus Which would cover the all the pending application beyond the number of days mentioned in their receipts?
We may include I-140 applicants. Some I-140 are pending since March 2002.
 
"If you submitted an application for an immigration benefit, if it is
beyond the normal processing time, if you have made written inquiries about your application, and the government has not responded"

Lets say you send an inquiry letter, and they reply saying we received your application on blah blah. Its taking so many years (updated processing time)........then?

Also with the online status check, INS may argue that you can check the current status of your case online whenever you want.

Also it can take months:
http://www.visalaw.com/02feb1/12feb102.html
 
Read the case at the top carefully. It says :-
"
She submitted an application (I-751) to remove the two-year condition on her green card and to waive the joint petition requirement. She waited three years for the INS to process her application. Then she moved to Los Angeles, and was told that her application would go to the back of the line, and she would have to wait another three years! She did not think this was fair, and neither did I. One of our attorneys made an inquiry on her behalf, and received the same answer: three more years.


"
The inquiry was made, but no result (or duty) was given in a fixed time. Hence the lawsuit was filed.
If you have made an initial inquiry and if reply states wait for 90 days...... blah blah blah!, then after 90 days if you hear nothing you can sue .
Once again a good lawyer will find lot of reasons to sue.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer and this is just my opinion

Originally posted by kjkool
"If you submitted an application for an immigration benefit, if it is
beyond the normal processing time, if you have made written inquiries about your application, and the government has not responded"

Lets say you send an inquiry letter, and they reply saying we received your application on blah blah. Its taking so many years (updated processing time)........then?

Also with the online status check, INS may argue that you can check the current status of your case online whenever you want.

Also it can take months:
http://www.visalaw.com/02feb1/12feb102.html
Click to expand...
 
It's time for our last option - Class action ("Writ of Mandamus").

There is no signal of improvement at BCIS. There is NO valid excuse:
1) Religious workers - no a valid excuse. It's a piece of cake for them to clear up a few thousands cases.
2) Auditing - an excuse some of us granted to BCIS. Who would believe about 4000 (approx. 1000 at each center, not to mention local offices) people have to cease working just for audit?
3) Security check - an attempt to blame others for their own incompetence/unwillingness to work. I believe FBI and CIA are doing a much better job.
4) "Zero tolerance policy" - should not affect the total number of cases processed per month (approval + denial + REFs + transfer). We'd appreciate the fact if VSC would approve 2500, deny 1500 (if there is a basis), issue 2000 RFEs, and transfer 2000 cases. That is they should touch 8000 cases per month. The disappointing FACT is they process (work on) far less number of cases than they should have.

Wake up people and make some noise! Don't you feel we are being slowly slaughtered by BCIS? Class action is a way to stop it!
 
It might be a good idea and people should not fear about any backlashes. WHY: Bcos, once the case is in court, USCIS will be closely scrutinized by the lawyers and it will be difficult for them to simply give RFE's or Transfers without valid reasons. In fact I think that some of the simpler cases might even be approved very soon as we see from the case above, just to appease the crowd.

We are not illegal immigrants to fear about backlashes. We were promised results in a certain time period. The president's promise is not kept.

Folks, make a quick decision on this as the holiday season kicks in pretty soon.
 
I agree

I agree with sai and others that there is nothing to worry about. Also, if it is an individual case 9as in the example), the persomn may be worried, but when you go in a group, INS will not single out anybody, and if t here is any backlash ((and if the case was clean) INS can be sued for that too! In fact, any such activity of discrimination will be harmful to the INS, so they will think twice before doing anything like that. We are legal, (high!) tax paying people, what are we afraid of? Yes, the holiday season is approaching, we should get opinions from Rajiv, Shushterman and other experts, but we need to ACT!
 
Finally a damn good idea

Originally posted by YJay
It's time for our last option - Class action ("Writ of Mandamus").

There is no signal of improvement at BCIS. There is NO valid excuse:
1) Religious workers - no a valid excuse. It's a piece of cake for them to clear up a few thousands cases.
2) Auditing - an excuse some of us granted to BCIS. Who would believe about 4000 (approx. 1000 at each center, not to mention local offices) people have to cease working just for audit?
3) Security check - an attempt to blame others for their own incompetence/unwillingness to work. I believe FBI and CIA are doing a much better job.
4) "Zero tolerance policy" - should not affect the total number of cases processed per month (approval + denial + REFs + transfer). We'd appreciate the fact if VSC would approve 2500, deny 1500 (if there is a basis), issue 2000 RFEs, and transfer 2000 cases. That is they should touch 8000 cases per month. The disappointing FACT is they process (work on) far less number of cases than they should have.

Wake up people and make some noise! Don't you feel we are being slowly slaughtered by BCIS? Class action is a way to stop it!
Click to expand...

I 100% agree with YJay - time to stop begging and to go on an offensive. Besides we can use the fact that BCIS profits from the delay (EAD/AP renewal etc). Problem is, many attorneys also profit from the delays so we may have a hard time hiring one. So how do we do this ? Collect signatures --> collect $$s --> hire attorney for class action ?
 
The way to go about this would be to call the lawyer, explaining our case and getting an initial estimate of the cost involved and how they can help. Once we hear from them we should start collecting money.
I am against pursuing with the ACLU at this stage as they might be free but they also have 1000's of cases that they are working on and will not provide us with the focus we need. It will just be a waste of time like some other efforts.
 
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