Passim

Mandamus decisions / District of Columbia

Khazaei v. Blinken

District of ColumbiaJames E. BoasbergDecided September 18, 2023No. 1:23-cv-01419

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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
While the Secretary of State has no legal authority to control which visa applications consular officers grant or deny, nothing precludes him from directing them to decide pending applications “within a reasonable time,” as the APA requires.
Form or filing 221(g) (consular refusal); DS-160 (nonimmigrant visa) Read by a model
Plaintiffs are Iranian nationals who applied for non-immigrant visas to study or teach at various U.S. academic institutions this fall, as well as their spouses and minor children.
What the suit asked for Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model
Each Plaintiff’s visa application was refused pending further administrative processing.
Kind of order A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
Motion decided Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model
Defendant’s Motion invokes the legal standards for dismissal under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).
Whose motion The government's motion Read by a model
Defendant Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, now moves to dismiss.
Disposition Dismissed The case or every delay claim was dismissed for a reason other than mootness. Read by a model
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
Prevailing party Government Read by a model
While the Court finds the Government’s threshold arguments regarding jurisdiction and justiciability largely without merit, it will nonetheless dismiss the four Plaintiffs who have since received visas and grant the Motion on the merits as to those remaining.
The delay claim Dismissed Read by a model
In all, the TRAC factors counsel the dismissal of Plaintiffs’ unreasonable-delay claims.
The other claims Dismissed Read by a model
Even assuming that the validity of the Department’s discriminatory “pattern and practice” is a subject fit for judicial review, Plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that such pattern and practice exists. This count does not survive either.
Months pending 9.9 months from the application to the suit The agency acted before this decision, so the months up to the decision are not a delay and are not shown. Read by a model
Amir Hossein Khazaei applied for an F-1 visa to study Computer Graphics at Texas A&M University and appeared for an interview with a consular officer on July 22, 2022.
TRAC factors The court weighed the TRAC factors
  • 1. Rule of reasonfavors the government
  • 2. Congressional timetablefavors the government
  • 3. Human health and welfarefavors the applicant
  • 4. Competing prioritiesfavors the government
  • 5. Interests prejudicedfavors the applicant
  • 6. No impropriety neededneutral
Read by a model
The first two factors favor Defendant because processing visas takes a baseline amount of time.
The government's delay arguments Line-jumping accepted Read by a model
However Plaintiffs style that request, it will inevitably entail a “judicial reordering” of the Department’s priorities.
Threshold rulings Consular nonreviewability rejected; Held moot; Duty to re-adjudicate a 221(g) refusal found Read by a model
In short, because the Department’s evaluation of Plaintiffs’ visa applications is ongoing, the consular nonreviewability doctrine does not apply, and Plaintiffs’ unreasonable-delay claims are subject to judicial review.
Nationality Iran Read by a model
Plaintiffs are fifteen Iranian citizens who applied for F and J visas to participate in academic programs (or accompany participating family members) at various institutions in the United States in Fall 2023.

How the case ended

Docket
No. 1:23-cv-01419
Filed
May 18, 2023
Ended
September 18, 2023
Suit's filing to its end
123 days
How it ended
Dismissed, ground not recorded
From the record
idb disp 14 (dismissed: other)

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

Supreme Court and D.C. 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.