UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NAHID GHULAM DASTAGIR, Plaintiff, v. Case No. 1:20-cv-02286 (TNM) ANTONY BLINKEN 1, in his official capacity as U.S. Secretary of State, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Nahid Ghulam Dastagir wants her foreign national husband to join her in the United States. She filed a visa application on his behalf five years ago, and he received an interview with the U.S. embassy in Moscow (“Moscow Embassy”) in 2018. The application has since languished in “administrative processing” awaiting adjudication. Frustrated, Dastagir sues various federal officials (collectively, the “Government”). She seeks an order compelling the Government to act on the application. The Government moves to dismiss the petition and Dastagir seeks partial summary judgment. Because there has been no unreasonable delay with Dastagir’s visa application, the Court will grant the Government’s motion. I. A U.S. citizen seeking to bring a foreign national spouse to the United States must file a Form I-130—a Petition for Alien Relative—with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). See 8 U.S.C. § 1154; 8 C.F.R. § 204.1(a)(1). If USCIS approves the 1 Under Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Antony J. Blinken substitutes for Michael R. Pompeo as Defendant in this suit. petition, it sends the application to the State Department’s processing center. See 8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(3). The foreign spouse then submits another application and appears for an interview at the embassy with jurisdiction over the foreign spouse’s residence. 22 C.F.R. § 42.62. After the interview, “the consular office must [either] issue [or] refuse the visa.” Id. § 42.81(a). In January 2016, U.S. citizen Dastagir filed a Form I-130 on behalf of her husband, who apparently lives in Russia. Pet. for Writ of Mandamus (“Pet.”) ¶¶ 5, 13, ECF No. 1. 2 USCIS approved the application the same year. Id. ¶ 12. A consular officer at the Moscow Embassy then interviewed Dastagir’s husband in March 2018. Id. ¶ 14. The officer allegedly informed Dastagir’s husband that the visa application was being placed in “administrative processing.” Id. ¶ 15. And it has remained there since. Id. ¶ 16. Meanwhile, a consular officer has re- interviewed Dastagir’s husband. See Defs.’ Mot. Extension of Time at 1, ECF No. 6. Dastagir claims that the Government’s “failure to adjudicate this visa application has had a profound and negative impact on the lives of [her] and her husband.” Pet. ¶ 17. In March 2020, the State Department suspended visa services in all U.S. embassies and consulates around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 See U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Important Announcement on H2 Visas (Mar. 26, 2020), https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/important-announcement-on-h2- visas.html. A “phased resumption of visa services” started four months later on a post-by-post basis as “local conditions and resources allow[ed].” U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Consular 2 All page citations refer to the page numbers that the CM/ECF system generates. 3 The Court takes judicial notice of information posted on official government websites …
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