UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DANIEL RAMIREZ, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Case No. 21-cv-1099 (CRC) ANTONY BLINKEN, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION The plaintiffs in this case are U.S. citizens and their non-citizen fiancés with K-1 visa applications pending or soon to be pending at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. They have sued the Department of State and its Secretary under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Mandamus Act, challenging the delay in adjudicating their applications. In their claims for relief, the plaintiffs object not only to how long the Department has taken to process their files, but also to how the Department and the Embassy have prioritized them. The Department and the Secretary move to dismiss the complaint. The Court will do so in part. The plaintiffs have failed to state a claim with Count 2, which challenges as arbitrary and capricious the Department and Manila Embassy’s alleged deprioritizing of K-1 visa applications. However, the Court concludes that many of these same allegations about the Manila Embassy can properly support the plaintiffs’ claims in Counts 1 and 3, which focus on whether their wait for a visa adjudication has been unreasonable. In particular, the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the Embassy has failed to follow the reasoned, four-tier triage scheme that the Department imposed on consular posts several months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Because such an allegation would support a claim that the delay the plaintiffs have experienced is unreasonable, the Court will deny the motion to dismiss as to Counts 1 and 3. I. Background A. The K-1 Visa Program A K-1 visa allows non-citizen fiancés of U.S. citizens to travel to the United States to marry. See Visas for Fiancé(e)s of U.S. Citizens, U.S. Citizenship & Immigr. Servs., https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-of-us-citizens/visas-for-fiancees-of-us-citizens (last visited Mar. 22, 2022) (“USCIS Visa Information”).1 It is one of several types of K visas, which also cover non-citizen spouses and eligible children of fiancés and spouses. See 9 FAM 502.7- 3(B)(a)–(b). To obtain a K-1 visa, a U.S. citizen who is engaged to be married must first file a Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)—or Form I-129F—with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). See USCIS Visa Information, supra. If USCIS agrees that the fiancé is eligible, it will approve the petition and send it to the State Department’s National Visa Center (“NVC”) for further processing. Id. When it receives an approved petition, the NVC assigns a case number, forwards the petition to the U.S. embassy or consulate where the non-citizen fiancé lives, and sends the non-citizen fiancé information on how to apply for a K-1 visa. Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fianc(é)e (K-1), U.S. Dep’t of State Bureau of Consular Affs., https://travel.state.gov/ content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/nonimmigrant-visa-for-a-fiance-k- 1.html (last visited Mar. 22, 2022). The non-citizen fiancé must then submit a K-1 visa application to the appropriate embassy or consulate, pay a fee, and gather specified material for review by a consular officer at an interview. Id. 1 The Court takes judicial notice of this and other information …
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