Federal Court Judge squashes class action lawsuit against Department of State and Homeland Security
On Monday, May 16, 20106, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ruled that the State Department’s Visa Bulletin-which explains how immigrant visas subject to the numerical limitations are allocated and predicts as to when the immigrants can apply for visas; is not a final action or decision and therefore cannot be challenged in court. The Court laid down that the action did not constitute a final action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and that the visa bulletin inherently lays down in an informative manner that USCIS ‘may’ utilize the available dates in the charts and that the dates might be ‘retrogressed’ or categories of applications be made ‘unavailable’ without notice. The Court said that APA prudently states what kinds of agency actions are subject to judicial review and the agency actions are required to be ‘final actions’ and not ones that are discretionary in nature.
In September 2015, the U.S. Department of State rolled back certain dates for otherwise eligible highly skilled immigrants to file work-based permanent visa applications, two weeks after having released …show more content…
The judge also clarified that the visa bulletin correction serves the public interest as it corrected a statement contrary to statutory authority and that the plaintiffs failed to show a due process violation, an irreparable harm or violation of public
On Monday, May 16, 20106, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ruled that the State Department’s Visa Bulletin-which explains how immigrant visas subject to the numerical limitations are allocated and predicts as to when the immigrants can apply for visas; is not a final action or decision and therefore cannot be challenged in court. The Court laid down that the action did not constitute a final action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and that the visa bulletin inherently lays down in an informative manner that USCIS ‘may’ utilize the available dates in the charts and that the dates might be ‘retrogressed’ or categories of applications be made ‘unavailable’ without notice. The Court said that APA prudently states what kinds of agency actions are subject to judicial review and the agency actions are required to be ‘final actions’ and not ones that are discretionary in nature.
In September 2015, the U.S. Department of State rolled back certain dates for otherwise eligible highly skilled immigrants to file work-based permanent visa applications, two weeks after having released …show more content…
The judge also clarified that the visa bulletin correction serves the public interest as it corrected a statement contrary to statutory authority and that the plaintiffs failed to show a due process violation, an irreparable harm or violation of public