Mandamus decisions / District of New Hampshire

Shuba v. US Embassy in Poland, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission

District of New HampshireLandya B. McCaffertyDecided August 17, 2026No. 1:25-cv-00390

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What the decision decided

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Agency	Department of State Read by a model Plaintiff Roman Shuba brings this action to compel the defendants, the U.S. Embassy in Poland’s Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and the U.S. Secretary of State, to issue a final adjudication with respect to his fiancée’s visa application.
Form or filing	221(g) (consular refusal); DS-160 (nonimmigrant visa) Read by a model On September 13, 2023, Shuba filed a K-1 visa petition for Astashkina with USCIS. USCIS later approved this petition on May 10, 2024. Around this time, Astashkina submitted a visa application.
What the suit asked for	Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model Thus, Shuba has sufficiently alleged that in issuing Astashkina a 221(g) refusal and then placing her application into administrative processing, the government has yet to finally adjudicate her application and has therefore not taken all the action it is legally required to take.
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model The government’s motion to dismiss (doc. no. 8) is granted in part and denied in part.
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model Presently before the court is the government’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (doc. no. 8).
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model Presently before the court is the government’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (doc. no. 8).
Disposition	Dismissed in part; some claims go on The government's motion to dismiss was granted in part: some claims were dismissed and others go on. Read by a model The government’s motion to dismiss (doc. no. 8) is granted in part and denied in part. It is granted with respect to Shuba’s due process claim (Count III). It is denied in all other respects.
Prevailing party	Each side in part Read by a model The government’s motion to dismiss (doc. no. 8) is granted in part and denied in part. It is granted with respect to Shuba’s due process claim (Count III). It is denied in all other respects.
The delay claim	The delay claim goes on Read by a model The government’s motion to dismiss (doc. no. 8) is granted in part and denied in part. It is granted with respect to Shuba’s due process claim (Count III). It is denied in all other respects.
The other claims	Dismissed Read by a model It is granted with respect to Shuba’s due process claim (Count III).
Months pending	12.5 months from the application to the suit; 22.7 months from the application to the court's decision Read by a model On September 24, 2024, a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Poland interviewed Astashkina in connection with her visa application.
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	Consular nonreviewability rejected; Duty to re-adjudicate a 221(g) refusal found Read by a model For these reasons, the court rejects the government’s argument for dismissal on the basis of consular nonreviewability.

How the case ended

Docket: No. 1:25-cv-00390
Filed: October 9, 2025
Ended: September 11, 2026
Suit's filing to its end: 337 days
How it ended: Ended once the agency acted
From the record: voluntary dismissal 2026-09-10

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 First 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
Adams v. Baker, 909 F.2d 643

First Circuit, July 26, 1990. A visa denial stands under Mandel where the government states a facially legitimate and bona fide reason, and the court will not weigh the evidence behind it.

ImmCite: caution, adverse or limiting treatment found. Clarified (jurisdictional description superseded by Muñoz), as recognized in Teles De Menezes v. Rubio, 156 F.4th 1 (2025).
Teles De Menezes v. Rubio, 156 F.4th 1

First Circuit, September 18, 2025. After Muñoz, consular nonreviewability is a merits defense rather than a jurisdictional bar, and it does not reach a challenge to the State Department's reclassification of an approved petition as opposed to a visa refusal.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 2 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-31; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Towns of Wellesley, Concord & Norwood v. FERC, 829 F.2d 275

First Circuit, September 25, 1987. The First Circuit applies the TRAC factors when asked to compel agency action that has been unreasonably delayed.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Patel v. Jaddou, 118 F.4th 475

First Circuit, October 16, 2024. Assuming statutory jurisdiction, § 1255(a) does not forbid USCIS from holding adjustment applications until a visa number is immediately available, so no § 706(1) claim lies against the abeyance policy; the Fourth Circuit rejects deciding the merits before the § 1252(a)(2)(B) question.

ImmCite: caution, adverse or limiting treatment found. Reasoning rejected in the Fourth Circuit by Lolakshi Kale v. Angelica Alfonso-Royals, 139 F.4th 329 (2025).