Mandamus and APA Litigation
When Agency Delay or Denial Has No Lawful Basis,
We Go to Federal Court
Federal district courts have clear authority to compel agency action that is unreasonably delayed and to set aside agency decisions that are arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law. Ariela Lake Law & Consulting brings these actions on behalf of petitioners and applicants facing USCIS and Department of State inaction or unlawful denials.
Mandamus Litigation for
Unreasonable Delay
USCIS and the Department of State are required to adjudicate applications within a reasonable time. When they do not, the Mandamus Act and the APA give applicants a path to compel a decision.
USCIS Delays. We litigate delayed adjudications across benefit types, including employment-based and family-based petitions, naturalization applications, and other benefits cases that are pending well beyond USCIS's own processing benchmarks.
Department of State Delays. We also bring mandamus actions against the Department of State for visa applications stalled in administrative processing or unreasonably delayed at the National Visa Center or consular post stage. These cases require careful attention to the doctrine of consular nonreviewability and the narrow circumstances in which delay itself, rather than the consular decision, is properly challenged.
In both contexts, we build the record showing the delay is unreasonable under the TRAC factors, and we coordinate with co-counsel where pattern-of-delay arguments strengthen the case across multiple plaintiffs or jurisdictions.
APA Litigation for Individual Denials
A denial that misapplies agency policy, ignores relevant evidence, or departs from the agency's own precedent without explanation is arbitrary and capricious under the APA. We challenge these denials directly in federal district court.
Our APA practice covers denials of employment-based and family-based petitions, naturalization denials, and other benefits determinations where the agency's stated rationale does not hold up against the administrative record. We are also experienced in challenging adjudications that rest on an unlawfully applied evidentiary standard, including flawed application of the Kazarian two-step framework in EB-1 cases.
APA review is record-based litigation. We work with you to tell your story, identify where the agency's reasoning breaks down, and brief the case to give the court a clear basis to set the denial aside.