Mandamus decisions / District of Maryland

Youssefi v. Renaud

District of MarylandWilliamsDecided March 11, 2011No. 8:10-cv-00428

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What the decision decided

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Agency	USCIS Read by a model Accordingly, the Court will remand the case to USCIS to exercise its discretion in deciding whether to grant Ms. Youssefi's application for a change in status.
Form or filing	I-539 (change or extension of stay) Read by a model She then filed a Form I-539 application to change her nonimmigrant status from B-2 visitor to F-1 student on June 25, 2008.
What the suit asked for	Not recorded Read by a model
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part.
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment.
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment.
Disposition	Remanded to the agency Sent back to the agency, with or without instructions. Read by a model This case is remanded to the USCIS for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Prevailing party	Each side in part Read by a model For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part.
The other claims	Remanded to the agency Read by a model This case is remanded to the USCIS for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Months pending	20 months from the application to the suit; 2.5 months from the application to the agency's action Read by a model On September 8, 2008, the USCIS denied Ms. Youssefi's Form I-539 application
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	Section 1252(a)(2)(B) bar applied; Section 1252(a)(2)(B) bar rejected Read by a model Title 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) bars this court from reviewing the decision of the USCIS to deny Plaintiff's application for a change of nonimmigrant status.
Nationality	Iran Read by a model The Plaintiff, Narges Youssefi, is a native and citizen of Iran

How the case ended

Docket: No. 8:10-cv-00428
Filed: February 23, 2010
Ended: March 11, 2011
Suit's filing to its end: 381 days
How it ended: Remanded to the agency
From the record: idb disp 11 (remanded to U.S. agency)

A voluntary or stipulated dismissal is how most suits end once the agency acts; the docket rarely says why.

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 14, 2026. Check the current status before relying on one.

Kucana v. Holder, 558 U.S. 233

Supreme Court, January 20, 2010. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) bars review only of decisions whose discretionary character is specified by statute, not discretion the agency gives itself by regulation.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328

Supreme Court, May 16, 2022. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) bars review of any judgment regarding the granting of the listed forms of relief, including the factual findings on which a denial of adjustment rests.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Bouarfa v. Mayorkas, 604 U.S. 6

Supreme Court, December 10, 2024. Revoking an approved visa petition under § 1155 is a discretionary decision or action that § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) places beyond judicial review.

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
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 2026-11-07; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Kale v. Alfonso-Royals, 139 F.4th 329

Fourth Circuit, June 3, 2025. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), read with § 1255(a), bars review of USCIS's adjudication hold policy for adjustment applications affected by visa retrogression, joining the Third, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits.

ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. ImmCite has found no published decision citing this case as of 2026-11-09; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law. The citation index lists 34 other decisions citing it, none a Supreme Court, BIA or Attorney General precedent or a published circuit opinion; ImmCite's status does not review them.