Only those who have “standing” – the legal authority to sue – can file a lawsuit. For immigration applications that have a petitioning sponsor and a beneficiary, the petitioner always has standing to sue. Numerous courts have held that beneficiaries also have standing to sue, but that is not universal. The best practice is have […]

[Also available on LinkedIn.] This looks ripe for some successful APA lawsuits to contest some of these denials. Given the surge in denials, I suspect many of these are arbitrary. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/uscis-policies-lead-to-high-denial-rates-l-1b-petitions

Mandamus lawsuits are effective tools used to efficiently force an adjudication of an unreasonably long delayed immigration application. One common concern that immigrants have when deciding whether to file one is how certain they can be it will work. The answer is that mandamus cases produce positive results for most people that file them assuming […]

Most likely, the answer to this question is yes. You can skip appealing to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) as long as there is no statute or regulation that explicitly requires an administrative appeal. The majority of regulations governing USCIS petitions and applications do not require an AAO appeal. This standard was set (with more […]

Mandamus lawsuits are tools immigrants can use to force the Government to quickly adjudicate a case that has been unreasonably delayed. These delays can cause families to be separated, jobs to be lost and a whole host of other negative issues. By filing a mandamus case, you are suing the Government in federal court to […]

Although these cases have an excellent track record of success, they do not succeed 100% of the time. Generally, losing a mandamus case will not impact whether your case is ultimately approved or denied. A loss should not result in further delay. The immigrant will remain in the same legal status and position he or […]

1) If you sue the Government, they will retaliate by declining your case. This is a persistent one and completely understandable. It’s just not true. We’ve never seen this happen in our experience and have heard the same from all of our colleagues that regularly file these cases. Some colleagues, who are former government attorneys […]

[Also available on Reddit.] Federal litigation has a well deserved reputation for being costly and lengthy. Many types of federal litigation involve extensive motion practice, burdensome discovery and wasteful sideshows over minor disputes. All of this adds up to significant attorney time and significant client cost. Immigration litigation is different. It’s typically cost-effective, straightforward and […]

[Also available on LinkedIn.] This is an excellent practice advisory by NILA regarding the impact of the recent Patel decision from the Supreme Court and it’s impact on federal litigation for immigration cases. Well worth the read if you are interested in the topic. https://immigrationlitigation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Patel-FINAL.pdf

[Also available on Reddit.] The recent rule update is great news for existing EAD holders seeking renewal. The new rule temporarily increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization from 180 days to 540 days. This will save a lot of jobs and avoid a lot of stress. However, there are a couple of shortcomings. […]