Victory in N-400 aplication cases where no interview are conducted due to name check

A federal district court in Pennsylvania ruled on February 8, 2008 that USCIS cannot use name check as a factor in adjudicating N-400 applications and ordered the USCIS to either adjudicate all plaintiffs' N-400 applications or initiate a notice and comment procedure concerning its use of the FBI name check procedure. The court specifically found that USCIS is without authority to use the FBI name check as a reason for delaying adjudicating N-400 applications.

This is one of very few cases where plaintiffs filed mandamus action for N-400 applications where some of them were not interviewed due to the delay in the FBI name check. USCIS also filed motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and its motions were denied by the court.

We have filed our first mandamus action for a client whose N-400 has been pending for about 18 months and he has not been interviewed due to the name check. We will post the result of this case once it becomes available.

As CIS has changed its name check policy on I-485 applications, more and more mandamus actions will focus on N-400 without interviews. CIS declared that it would continue its current name check policy on all N-400 applications.