One of our clients faced a frustrating delay in obtaining a green card for their foreign spouse. Tired of waiting indefinitely, we filed a mandamus lawsuit to force the government to act. The result? The case finally moved forward and the government scheduled the green card for issuance.

At that point, the Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) who was representing the government in the lawsuit urged us to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that it had served its purpose and that it was necessary to dismiss it. But we knew better. Instead of closing the matter prematurely, we insisted on keeping it open until the green card was actually in hand.

And it’s a good thing we did.

When the green card arrived, there was a critical typo in the name. This seemingly small mistake could have prevented our client’s spouse from traveling, causing unnecessary stress and delays. Normally, correcting such an error through USCIS could take months—or even years. Instead of waiting months to sort it out and dealing with endless bureaucratic red tape, we leveraged the lawsuit to demand an immediate correction.

Because the case was still active, we worked directly with the AUSA, who expedited the correction and got a new (and correct) green card issued within a few weeks. No extra forms. No endless waiting. Just results.