I did, and USCIS said it is still pending. I consulted two attorneys and they mentioned that mandamus is a promising option, one of them said literally "TSC is falling apart"!!
USCIS as a whole is a joke at the moment. I would say any wait time beyond one year is unacceptable, especially when it messes up the time you count towards the next immigration benefit, in this case you have to wait longer for citizenship. Inquiries, congress reps, ombudsman, they're all useless. BUT they are a good thing to try before suing. Suing (writ of mandamus) is the only thing that works. If you've been waiting for 1 year, this is what I would recommend, and what I plan on doing (March 31st is my 1 year of applying for GC) :
* 1 year: Open inquiry. Wait for reply. Sometimes the reply will say to wait 30, 60, 90 days before opening a new one. Wait the time and then open another one. If it doesn't say, just wait 30-60 days and open a new one.
* If nothing happens after the 2nd inquiry, see if you can get your House Rep or Senator to help you. Again, they're usually useless and will get a blanket response from USCIS: background checks, pending, still in process, blah, blah, blah. Wait for USCIS to reply to congress rep.
* Wait 30-60 days after congress rep receives answer. If nothing, open a case with the Ombudsman. Again, nothing will likely happen bc Ombudsman is like a glorified suggestion box for USCIS. Wait for ombudsman response.
*If nothing, file writ of mandamus and sue USCIS. By this time you'll have been waiting for about 1.5-2 years. And if you still don't have an answer from USCIS one way or another, the judge will see you did everything in your power and gave USCIS enough opportunities to adjudicate in a timely manner, but they didn't. USCIS will not fight this type of lawsuit in court bc it's all due to their own backlogs and inefficiency, unless there are huge red flags with your original asylum case, have a criminal record, or are otherwise inadmissible.
Depending on how much time has passed and the response the congressman received, you could always skip ombudsman and go straight to writ of mandamus. I wish more people would sue. The more USCIS appears before federal judges for the same thing, the more they would try to fix their ridiculous process.
Also note, and this is IMPORTANT: Writ of mandamus is
not designed to force USCIS to
approve your case. It's designed to
force them to make a decision. That decision could still be a no. So make sure that you have a solid case and don't have any red flags or criminal background. And I would strongly suggest hiring an attorney to go through this process if you can find the money.
