Federal Lawsuit Leads to Approval of Naturalization Application After USCIS Wrongly Found Client Not Lawfully Admitted and Accused Client of Material Misrepresentation; Client Now a U.S. Citizen

In October 2025, our firm filed a Petition for Review of Denial of Application for Naturalization Pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1421(c) and Request for De Novo Hearing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenging USCIS's denial of our client's Application for Naturalization. In January 2026, just three months later, the government agreed that there were no known impediments to our client's naturalization and stipulated to dismissal so that USCIS could adjudicate the application. USCIS then reopened and approved our client's N-400 application.

USCIS claimed that our client's admission as a permanent resident was not proper because they were no longer married to their spouse at the time USCIS issued the green card.

Our client received a green card in 2016 through their spouse's employment based petition. Years earlier, in 2013, the spouse had filed for divorce. The court set the divorce to become final in 2015, but before then, the couple tried to save their marriage, and the court pushed the divorce date back to 2016.

This meant our client was still legally married both when they applied for the green card in 2015 and when it was approved in early 2016. Our client also told the USCIS officer about the pending divorce at the green card interview, and the couple kept living together as a family for years afterward.

However, relying on an outdated version of the divorce judgment, USCIS concluded that our client was already divorced when the green card was approved, making our client ineligible for the green card and therefore not lawfully admitted for permanent residence. USCIS also accused our client of material misrepresentation and refused to credit our client's disclosure of the pending divorce at the green card interview.

Our client's previous attorney then filed an N-336 Request for a Hearing, submitting the amended divorce judgment, sworn declarations from our client and their former spouse, and a letter from our client's divorce attorney. In 2025, more than three years later, USCIS denied the request, once again relying on the incorrect divorce date, ignoring the declarations and attorney letter, and alleging that our client improperly extended the marriage and made a material misrepresentation.

Our client then turned to our firm.

Having exhausted all administrative remedies, Attorney Nguyen D. Luu and his legal team sought judicial review in federal court. By presenting the amended court judgment and a clear record of disclosure, we overcame USCIS's erroneous findings. Facing federal court review, the government agreed to dismiss the case and return the application to USCIS for prompt adjudication. USCIS then reopened and approved our client's naturalization application, and after years of wrongful denial, our client is now a U.S. citizen. We are proud to have secured this favorable outcome and to continue protecting immigrants from wrongful denials caused by agency error.