Mandamus Lawsuits in 2026: The Immigration Delays We Are Taking to Federal Court
If you have been checking your case status every morning and seeing the same words for a year or more, you already know what this post is about. A pending immigration case is not usually a case under review. Most of the time, it is a file that has not been assigned to anyone. In 2026 the waits have grown across almost every category, and USCIS has said publicly that it has strengthened its screening and vetting of applications. Whatever the cause in any one case, the result our office sees every week is the same: applications that are complete and eligible, sitting unread.
Federal law requires agencies to decide the cases in front of them within a reasonable time. When that does not happen, a mandamus lawsuit in federal court asks a judge to order the agency to decide the case. It does not ask for an approval, and it does not need one. Once the complaint is served, the government has 60 days to respond, and in our experience the agency usually chooses to decide the case rather than defend the delay to a judge. For years we told clients that waiting was the only option. We no longer say that.
These are the delays we have been taking to federal court this year.
Spouses of Green Card Holders (Form I-130)
When a United States citizen files for a spouse, the case moves. When a permanent resident files, it often does not. Among our own clients, Form I-130 petitions filed by green card holders for their spouses have waited 35 to 40 months without an officer ever opening the file. That is not a number from a government report. It is what we see in our own cases.
Three years is not an abstraction for a married couple. One person is here, building the life the family was supposed to share. The other is abroad, where even a short visit is complicated because a pending immigrant petition makes a visitor visa hard to get. We have filed mandamus complaints for couples in exactly this position, including cases where a visa number was already available and the petition simply sat. Once the lawsuit was filed, the file that nobody had opened was opened.
Green Cards and Family Petitions After an Asylum Grant
Winning asylum is supposed to be the hard part. What comes next is meant to be routine: Form I-485 for the green card, and Form I-730 to bring a spouse and unmarried children under 21 to the United States. The hard question, the asylum claim itself, has already been answered in your favor.
Yet these are the files we now see sitting. A green card application that does not move keeps the future on hold. A family petition that does not move keeps a husband, a wife, or a child waiting in or near the very country the asylum case was about. We have been getting more of these calls this year, and both delays can be taken to federal court the same way.
DACA Renewals
USCIS continues to accept and process DACA renewal requests. What has changed is how long they take. Renewals that used to come back within a few months are now pending long enough that the current work permit can expire before the new one arrives. When that happens, the consequences arrive all at once: a job held for years is suspended or lost, an employer who wants to keep you cannot legally do so, and a school admission or a new job offer expires while the file sits. People who did everything on time are pushed out of lives they spent years building.
Our office follows a simple rule for these cases. If a renewal has been pending for five months or more, or if the work permit has already expired while the renewal sits, we consider a mandamus lawsuit. A renewal filed on time by someone who has held DACA for years is exactly the kind of complete, eligible case that a federal court filing is designed to move.
Stalled at the Last Step: Interviews and Final Decisions
Some cases stall at the very end. The application is complete, the biometrics are done, and the only thing left is an interview that never appears on the calendar, or a decision that never comes after the interview. Months pass with nothing to respond to and nothing to fix, because nothing is wrong. A mandamus lawsuit reaches this kind of delay too. In one of our cases, a green card interview that had not been scheduled for more than two years was scheduled within weeks of the complaint being filed. We have brought these lawsuits in marriage based green card cases, VAWA cases, and citizenship applications waiting on a decision.
Will Suing USCIS Hurt Your Case?
This is the first question nearly every client asks, and it deserves a direct answer. The lawsuit is filed against the agency, not against the officer handling your case. It does not ask the judge to review the merits, and it does not change the record the agency will decide on. The officer who would have decided your case in two or three years decides it now, on the same evidence and under the same law. What changes is the date, not the standard. That is why we review the whole file before filing: a mandamus lawsuit brings the decision forward, and it should be a decision worth bringing forward.
When to Consider a Mandamus Lawsuit
Start with the normal tools. An online case inquiry and an inquiry through a congressional office cost little and sometimes work. A federal lawsuit is the step after the normal tools, not instead of them.
Look at the whole file, not just the calendar. Whether the case is outside the posted processing time, whether every request for evidence has been answered, and whether anything in the record needs attention before a faster decision would actually help you. That review is the real first step.
Questions About Your Case?
Every case is different. If your application has been pending far longer than it should and the normal inquiries have gone nowhere, contact our office to schedule a consultation.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This post is for general information only and is not legal advice. Every case is unique. Please consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific situation.
