Case Types

Marriage-Based Green Card Delays

Point to act: Act from ~12 months

Your I-130 or I-485 has been pending far beyond normal processing times while your life together stays on hold.

How Soon Can a Mandamus Case Be Filed

When does a wait turn into a serious delay?

Benchmarks courts use, not rules — the review reads your actual file.

4 months
- Citizenship (after the interview)
6 months
- 221(g) consular
- Work permit (EAD)
1 year
- Marriage green card
- Employment green card
- Citizenship (N-400)
- EB-5 investor
5 years
- Asylum

All case types

When a marriage case stalls

A marriage-based green card case usually moves through two filings: the I-130 petition that proves your relationship and the I-485 application that adjusts your status. When either one sits untouched past the posted processing time, couples are left in limbo — unable to travel freely, plan careers, or simply move on with married life. Repeated case inquiries and congressional requests often produce the same templated answer: your case is pending.

How a mandamus lawsuit helps

A writ of mandamus is a federal lawsuit that asks a judge to order USCIS to decide your case. It does not ask for an approval — it asks for the decision you are already legally owed. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, agencies must act on applications within a reasonable time. Once the government is served, it has 60 days to respond, and in our experience the agency usually decides a delayed marriage case inside that response window rather than defend the delay.

Signs this is your case

It has been more than a year since you filed the I-130 or I-485.
Your case is outside posted processing times and inquiries go nowhere.
You completed your interview but never received a decision.
Your work permit or travel document renewals keep cycling while the underlying case sits.

If any of these fit, a free evaluation can tell you whether a mandamus filing makes sense for your case.

Run the 60-second pre-assessment or read how to tell a stuck case from a broken one.

If USCIS answers a lawsuit with a Request for Evidence, here is what happens next.

Where does your wait sit for this case type?

Pick the stage, how long it has been, and where you live; see which of the four readings it points to — then send it to the attorney.

The stage your file is at

Before the interview the general minimum is 12 months; after an interview or an RFE response a separate 2-month clock applies.

Months at this stage

The result page shows which date the count starts from for the stage you picked.

State

Documentable impact of the delay Optional

Concrete harm is not required, but it can help explain what the delay is actually costing you.

Important: this tool shows no percentages and no odds. The reading is a qualitative view of preliminary suitability built from the wait, the stage of the file, visa availability where it applies, and your real federal-court connection. A mandamus case guarantees no particular outcome.