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A federal judge has rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by three foreign nationals against U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The plaintiffs, who applied for EB-1A visas reserved for individuals with “extraordinary abilities,” argued that the government has unreasonably and unlawfully delayed processing their applications. The ruling allows the case to move forward, requiring the State Department to issue a final decision on the long-pending petitions.
The case, Lyazat Tolymbekova, et al. v. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, et al., involves three plaintiffs — a Kazakh metallurgist, a Russian project manager, and a Russian makeup artist — whose EB-1A visa applications have been stuck in administrative processing for more than 16 months.
Their applications were placed under § 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which permits consular officers to deny visas pending additional information.
The plaintiffs contend that the prolonged delay has imposed severe personal and professional hardships. Lyazat Tolymbekova, for instance, has been separated from her U.S. citizen daughter, missing her college graduation and being unable to support her during a medical crisis.
The other plaintiffs said the uncertainty surrounding their applications has forced them to put both careers and family plans on hold.
In its motion to dismiss, the government argued that the court lacked jurisdiction under the doctrine of consular nonreviewability, which generally shields a consular officer’s final visa decision from judicial scrutiny.
But Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui rejected that argument, noting that a § 221(g) refusal is not a final decision, since the State Department’s own guidance tells applicants their cases will be re-adjudicated once processing is complete. The court stressed that nonreviewability applies only to final determinations.
Faruqui also dismissed the government’s sovereign immunity claim, ruling that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) waives immunity in cases where plaintiffs seek injunctive relief rather than monetary damages.
The judge concluded that the State Department has a “clear, nondiscretionary duty” to either issue or refuse a visa once an application is properly filed — a duty it has failed to fulfill in this case
