Hamid Khoshdel Nikkho, et al. v. Marco Rubio, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a suit seeking to compel the State Department to complete administrative processing of an immigrant visa application. The court held that the Department had fulfilled its nondiscretionary duty by refusing the application under INA § 221(g), and that consular nonreviewability barred judicial review of the refusal and related administrative processing. The court did not reach whether the delay was unreasonable under the TRAC factors.

Holdings

1. The Department's duty to review and adjudicate the visa application was satisfied when the consular officer refused the visa under section 221(g). Neither the Immigration and Nationality Act nor its implementing regulations imposes a duty to complete administrative processing within a particular time or to complete it at all; therefore, plaintiffs could not obtain mandamus or APA relief compelling further processing.
2. Consular nonreviewability bars judicial review of the section 221(g) refusal, the decision to place the application into administrative processing for discretionary reconsideration, and the substance of the consular visa determination.
3. The claims against the Secretary of State were dismissed for lack of standing because the Secretary could not provide the relief plaintiffs sought; the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services was not dismissed on that basis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a section 221(g) visa refusal followed by administrative processing leaves a nondiscretionary duty that may be compelled under the Administrative Procedure Act or through mandamus.
2. Whether consular nonreviewability bars judicial review of a section 221(g) refusal and the Department's continued administrative processing.
3. Whether the Secretary of State was a proper defendant with authority to provide the relief sought.
4. Whether the court needed to decide whether the alleged delay was unreasonable under the TRAC factors.

Disposition

dismissed