Sixth Circuit Panel Allows U Visa Applicants to Sue USCIS Over Processing Delays

On September 13, 2021, a three-judge panel in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with four U visa applicants, finding that USCIS took unreasonably long to place them on the U visa wait list, protecting them from deportation and allowing them to apply for work authorization. The U visa is designated for victims of serious crimes who help law enforcement and 10,000 are granted each year. USCIS reports that there is currently a backlog of 160,000 applicants. Because of the long backlog, applicants are placed on a U visa waitlist, which gives them deferred action from deportation and the ability to apply for work authorization while they await the adjudication of their case. However, four applicants, who applied for U visas between 2016 and 2018, are suing USCIS for taking years to even place them on the waitlist. The panel ruled that USCIS’s backlog of U visa cases does not justify the amount of time it is taking for the plaintiffs to be placed on the waitlist and access the accompanying benefits. However, responding to a separate claim, the panel found that it was not in their jurisdiction to rule on USCIS’s untimely issuance of work authorization permits, because USCIS is not legally required to issue work authorization permits and does so at its own discretion.