Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of Virginia

Azizi v. Rubi

Eastern District of VirginiaRossie David Alston Jr.Decided October 21, 2026

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What the decision decided

Each value cites the passage it was read from. Values read by a model were checked against that passage; values read by rule come from fixed text patterns. Read the decision before relying on either.

Agency	Department of State Read by a model After his interview, the U.S. Department of State issued Plaintiff's wife a Section 221(g) refusal2 and informed the couple that the Department of State is pausing visa issuance to Iranian nationals, effective January 21, 2026.
Form or filing	221(g) (consular refusal); DS-260 (immigrant visa) Read by a model The non-final refusal of beneficiary Mahnaz Hosseini Cheshmehmantesh's immigrant visa was noted in an exhibit attached to Plaintiff s Complaint. Dkt.1-1 at 7. As such, this Cout will analyze the Section 221 (g) refusal as part of the Complaint.
What the suit asked for	Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model Plaintiff challenges the refusal of his wife's visa application and the length of the adjudication process.
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for lack of subjectmatterjurisdiction (Dkt. 5) is GRANTED
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Read by a model Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for lack of subjectmatterjurisdiction (Dkt. 5) is GRANTED
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model This matter comes before the Court on Defendants Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Charge of Affairs David Allen's ("Defendants") Motion to Dismiss ("Motion").
Disposition	Dismissed The case or every delay claim was dismissed for a reason other than mootness. Read by a model Plaintiff's Complaint (Dkt. 1) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Prevailing party	Government Read by a model Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for lack of subjectmatterjurisdiction (Dkt. 5) is GRANTED
The delay claim	Dismissed Read by a model Plaintiff's Complaint (Dkt. 1) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
The other claims	Dismissed Read by a model Plaintiff's Complaint (Dkt. 1) is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Months pending	2.3 months from the application to the suit; 6.9 months from the application to the court's decision Read by a model March 24, 2026. Jd. at 1. After his interview, the U.S. Department of State issued Plaintiff's wife a Section 221(g) refusal2
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	No duty to re-adjudicate a 221(g) refusal Read by a model After a refusal, such as a Section 221 (g) refusal for administrative processing, has been made, no further discrete action is required under the INA, 22 C.F.R. § 41.12l(a) or § 42.81, or any other pertinent statute or regulation.
I-130 category	Immediate relative Read by a model Plaintiff Abbas Azizi ("Plaintiff"), proceeding pro se, is a United States ("U.S.") citizen seeking an immigrant visa for himself and his wife, a beneficiary.

How the case ended

This decision is not linked to a docket in the docket record yet, so how the case ended is not shown.

Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit authority

District decisions bind no one. On the questions this decision raises, the Supreme Court decisions and the circuit's published decisions listed here bind this court; a circuit disposition marked nonprecedential was not published as precedent and is persuasive only. ImmCite status as read November 3, 2026. Check the current status before relying on one.

Department of State v. Muñoz, 602 U.S. 899

Supreme Court, June 21, 2024. A U.S. citizen has no fundamental liberty interest in a noncitizen spouse's admission, so marriage alone entitles the citizen neither to Mandel review of the consular refusal nor to an explanation beyond the statutory citation.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667

Supreme Court, June 26, 2018. Mandel's facially-legitimate-and-bona-fide standard governs constitutional challenges to entry restrictions, and a citation to a valid statutory ground ordinarily satisfies it.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753

Supreme Court, June 29, 1972. When a visa refusal burdens a U.S. citizen's own constitutional rights, courts ask only whether the Executive gave a facially legitimate and bona fide reason and do not look behind it.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55

Supreme Court, June 14, 2004. Section 706(1) and mandamus reach only a discrete agency action that the agency is legally required to take, so a court cannot compel programmatic improvements or action the law leaves to agency discretion.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Sesay v. United States, 984 F.3d 312

Fourth Circuit, January 5, 2021. Consular nonreviewability bars review of a relative's visa refusal; under Din and Trump v. Hawaii a valid statutory citation satisfies Mandel, and the court will not look behind it absent a particularized showing of bad faith.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 4 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-30; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Gonzalez v. Cuccinelli, 985 F.3d 357

Fourth Circuit, January 14, 2021. Courts may review delay in placing U-visa petitioners on the waitlist under the TRAC factors and should not dismiss such claims at the pleading stage, but lack jurisdiction over delay in pre-waitlist work-permit requests, a point on which the Sixth Circuit disagrees.

ImmCite: caution, adverse or limiting treatment found. Rejected in the Sixth Circuit by Barrios Garcia v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 25 F.4th 430 (2022).
Lovo v. Miller, 107 F.4th 199

Fourth Circuit, July 3, 2024. The 'decision or action' language of § 1182(a)(9)(B)(v), which the court treated as coextensive with § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), does not reach USCIS inaction, so a district court may hear a claim that USCIS unreasonably delayed a provisional unlawful-presence waiver.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 5 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-29; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.