UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SAIMA KHAN, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 21-1683 (JEB) ANTHONY J. BLINKEN, Secretary of State, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Saima Khan, a U.S. citizen, seeks a visa for her foreign-national fiancé, Kamil Khan. She began the application process in March 2020, and her fiancé interviewed for a visa at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia in January 2021. Since the interview, she alleges that his application has been unreasonably held up by administrative processing. Plaintiff thus brought this suit, naming an extensive list of government officials as Defendants, to force a decision on the application. She alleges that the delay violates the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq., and the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1361, et seq. Additionally, she alleges that the application has been improperly singled out for delay under the Department of Homeland Security’s Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP). Defendants now move to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Because the Court finds that the processing delay is not unreasonable, it will grant the Motion. 1 I. Background The Court will provide a brief overview of the process for obtaining a fiancé visa before turning to the specifics of this case. A. Fiancé(e) Visas A fiancé(e) visa, also known as a K-1 visa, is a nonimmigrant visa that allows a foreign citizen to travel to the United States to marry a U.S.-citizen fiancé(e) and then apply for lawful- permanent-resident status. See U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Visas for Fiancé(e)s of U.S. Citizens (March 23, 2018), https://bit.ly/35j9Jup (USCIS Fiancé(e) Visa Information). To obtain a K-1 visa, the U.S.-citizen fiancé(e) first submits an I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Id.; see also U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) (July 23, 2020), https://bit.ly/3eJ57k5. If USCIS determines that the foreign fiancé(e) is eligible for a K-1 visa, it sends the application to the State Department’s National Visa Center (NVC). See USCIS Fiancé(e) Visa Information. NVC assigns an identification number to the application and forwards it to the relevant U.S. Embassy or Consulate, where the foreign fiancé(e) must then apply and interview for a K-1 visa. See U.S. Dep’t of State, Step 2: Begin National Visa Center (NVC) Processing (last visited Nov. 9, 2021), https://bit.ly/2JKANtW. If a consular officer decides to issue the visa, the foreign-national fiancé(e) may travel to a U.S. port of entry and request admission to the United States. Id. B. Factual History Saima (the Court uses first names to avoid confusion and repetition) took the steps outlined above, beginning with the I-129F she filed on March 9, 2020. See ECF No. 7-3 (Declaration of Saima Khan), ¶ 4. Unfortunately for her and her fiancé — and for many other hopeful couples around the world — the outbreak of COVID-19 forced the State Department to 2 suspend routine visa services shortly thereafter. See U.S. Dep’t of State — Bureau of Consular Affairs, …
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