Here is a news article on THE BOSTON GLOBE.
Suing is an effective way, but very expensive one, regarding money and effort and time as well. Worth to try if name check is pending for more than three or ?years...
Immigrants are suing to speed up citizenship
Willing to risk confrontation to end delays
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | December 17, 2005
Immigrants trying to become US citizens, often frustrated by long delays during their background checks, are increasingly suing the federal government to force decisions on their cases.
This year, 29 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts in Massachusetts against the Department of Homeland Security and US Citizenship and Immigration Services by immigrants citing long waits on their applications for citizenship or permanent residency. That's an increase from four such suits filed last year.
The legal tactic is showing some signs of success. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services now asks the FBI to expedite an applicant's background check once a federal suit has been filed, according to a memo circulated last January by the agency and obtained by the Globe.
Ten of the 29 Massachusetts suits were settled within months, according to court records.
Raed Suleiman, a doctor born in Kuwait, had been waiting nearly three years for a decision on his citizenship application when he filed suit in Boston in November 2004. US District Judge Rya W. Zobel ordered the government to complete Suleiman's background check, and in April he became a US citizen.
''It revived my trust in the judicial system in this country," said Suleiman, 39, formerly of Burlington, who works in the intensive care unit at a West Virginia veterans hospital.
Still, the decision to file was not easy.
''I felt by pursuing this lawsuit I might put myself in jeopardy with the government," Suleiman said, but ''at some point I really needed an answer, I needed some peace of mind."
Boston immigration lawyer Desmond Fitzgerald said it's unfair for immigration officials to delay a case so long that immigrants feel the only way to get a decision is to sue, which is expensive.
''Nobody likes to go to court for anything, but especially if your status here is so questionable," he said.
Suleiman said he doesn't know why his background check took so long because he's always been law-abiding and has been working in federal hospitals, treating American veterans, including some who fought in Iraq.
There are no centralized statistics on such suits, but immigration lawyers and organizations say they are on the rise nationwide.
''I think people are getting frustrated, and their fear of going to court is outweighed by their frustration and their sense that this is really an unreasonable time the government is taking," said Nadine K. Wettstein, director of the American Immigration Foundation's legal action center in Washington.
Delays have worsened since Sept. 11, 2001.
Gregory Romanovsky, a Boston immigration lawyer who filed suits on behalf of two Russian men earlier this year, said: ''Basically right now this is the only thing that works when the case is stuck. I'm sure there have always been cases where a case just gets stuck in a black hole, but definitely post-9/11 it's been a disaster."
Some of the immigrants who filed suits, as well as immigration lawyers, said they believed that Middle Easterners and Muslims face more scrutiny and are more likely to face delays than other immigrants seeking citizenship. But federal officials said there's no profiling when it comes to background checks.
The lawsuits filed in Massachusetts were brought by immigrants from many different countries, including Russia, China, Colombia, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Jordan, Iran, and Turkey.
The suits say that after providing the required documentation and being interviewed and fingerprinted, immigrants have waited one to nine years for a decision on their applications. They are demanding that judges rule on their cases or order immigration officials to make a decision.
Federal law requires the government to rule on applications within 120 days after an applicant's examination. An examination requires an applicant to be fingerprinted, interviewed by immigration officials, pass a test on US history and government, and demonstrate that they can read, write and understand English.
But while immigration lawyers say the 120-day deadline begins after the applicant's interview with immigration officials, prosecutors contend the clock doesn't start until the background check is completed.
Most background checks, which involve checking a person's name and birthdate with various federal and international agencies' watch lists and databases, clear quickly. About 94 percent are completed within a month, and another 5 percent are resolved within six months, according to federal officials.
But the rest can take months or years, because ''derogatory information" surfaces that requires investigation, said Bill Carter, a spokesman for the FBI in Washington. There may be some indication that an applicant has a criminal record or that his name surfaced in an investigation or on a watch list.
''The FBI priority remains to protect the United States from a terrorist attack," Carter said. ''We must ensure the proper balance between security and efficiency. We have to make sure before we make a call on any individual that the person doesn't pose a security risk."
Some investigations stall, he said, because negative information about an applicant comes from a country that has no diplomatic relations with the United States and cannot be verified. He said the FBI has been working on the problem with the State Department.
William Stras*****erger, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington, said the agency processes about a half-million citizenship applications each year, of which about 5,000 will probably have delays based on background checks.
Denis C. Riordan, district director of the Boston office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that in the past year the average waiting time on an application filed in Boston was six months for citizenship.
Riordan said the agency recently borrowed 13 workers to help cut a backlog.
But immigration lawyers say suits are becoming increasingly attractive to immigrants who can't find out whether their delay is rooted in security concerns or bureaucratic inefficiency.
Suleiman, who filed his application for citizenship in February 2002, said officials told him his background check was incomplete, but wouldn't disclose their concerns.
It was frustrating, he said, because his loyalty is to the United States, where he found safety and opportunity.
He said he left Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion, because his family suffered financially and socially. He was a Jordanian citizen and a doctor when he came to the United States in 1993 for further medical training.
''I said I think it's my right if there's anything against me to know," said Suleiman. ''If my name needs to be cleared, I should work on it, but don't leave me hanging like this."