Frequently Asked Questions about Participating in a Lawsuit

The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of immigrants and to securing fair and just application and administration of the U.S. immigration laws.  In order to achieve these goals, AILF files lawsuits involving various aspects of immigration and nationality law.

Because the unreasonable delays by the INS in adjudicating I-140 Petitions for Immigrant Worker (I-140) and employment-based I-485 Applications for Adjustment of Status (I-485) have caused tremendous hardships to employers and to employees, AILF is preparing to file a lawsuit in federal court to compel INS to fix this intolerable situation.  Following are some questions frequently asked by those who are considering whether to be plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

You may be eligible to participate in this lawsuit if you meet any of the following descriptions of potential plaintiffs:

  1. You are working in the United States as a nonimmigrant (ex. H-1B, L-1A or L-1B);
  2. Your employer has filed an I-140 Petition for Immigrant Worker (I-140) on your behalf;
  3. The I-140 has been pending with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for more than 60 days;
  4. You have a current priority date; but
  5. You have less than 180 days left in your nonimmigrant status.

Or:

  1. You were working in the United States as a nonimmigrant;
  2. Your employer had filed an I-140 on your behalf;
  3. The I-140 was pending at the INS for more than 60 days;
  4. You have a current priority date, but
  5. You ran out of time in your nonimmigrant status and had to leave the United States, and
  6. The I-140 is still pending at the INS.

Or:

  1. You have an I-140 pending at the INS for more than 60 days, or
  2. You and your family have I-485 Applications for Adjustment of Status (I-485) pending at INS for any period of time,
  3. You have a current priority date, but
  4. You have child(ren) who will turn 21 in less than 180 days.

Or:

  1. You have a current priority date, but
  2. Your and/or your family's I-485(s) have been pending with the INS for more than 180 days.

We cannot promise this, of course, but we hope that the INS will adjudicate your petition or application more quickly and also begin processing other employment-based permanent resident petitions and applications more quickly as well.  We also will sue to have the INS to implement some interim measures to ease the hardships of those whose employment-based permanent residence petitions and applications have been pending for too long.  We need people to represent others, so that we can try to fix the problem for everyone in the same situation. Without plaintiffs such as yourself, we cannot address and fix the problem for all.

Litigation is uncertain by nature.  In other words, we cannot predict the exact outcome.  Our aim is to compel INS to process employment-based permanent residence petitions and applications within a reasonable time frame and to provide relief to those whose petitions and applications have been languishing in some cases for years at INS.  We also want to ensure that the INS and the State Department do not "lose" employment-based immigrant visas because the INS isn't processing I-140s and I-485s quickly enough each year to use up the available visas.

AILF and our co-counsel will not charge you any attorney's fees for representing you in this lawsuit.  AILF also will pay for costs and expenses associated with the lawsuit, such as filing fees, copying, long distance calls, travel expenses for AILF attorneys and staff, depositions, transcripts, etc.  Should you be required to be present at a deposition, hearing or a trial, we do ask that you pay your own travel and lodging expenses, if any.

You will have to provide us with the information and/or documentation that we need in order to prepare the lawsuit.  Once it is filed, most of the initial work in a lawsuit will be done on paper by the lawyers.  Depending on how the case proceeds, the INS and its attorneys may want to ask you some questions about your immigration case.  This is called a deposition.  An AILF attorney or an attorney working with us on the lawsuit would be with you at the deposition, without charge to you.  At a later stage, you may be required to be present at a hearing or a trial and possibly be asked to testify about your case, but this does not happen in every lawsuit.

The INS will, of course, know that you are a plaintiff.  We may also discuss your case with members and staff of our sister organization, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in the course of developing strategies for the lawsuit.  We also will discuss your case and share your information with our co-counsel.

When the lawsuit is filed, all documents filed with the court become public.  It's also possible that the media -- newspapers, radio, or TV reporters -- may see the court documents and decide to do a story on the lawsuit.  But usually reporters will ask if they can speak to the individuals involved before using their names.

The INS cannot deny you a benefit to which that you are legally entitled.  However, it is very likely that the INS will look at your case more closely than they might otherwise.  If the INS tries to retaliate against you, AILF will bring the INS’s action to the court’s attention and ask the court to stop INS from retaliating against you.  We will also ask the court to punish INS for acting in a retaliatory manner.

 

If you believe that you are eligible to participate in this lawsuit, please complete the attached questionnaire [please click here, 106 kb PDF file] and return it as soon as possible to The Law Offices of Vikram Badrinath, P.C. We will review the questionnaire.  If we believe you are qualified we will forward information to the American Immigration Law Foundation to contact you to discuss your participation in greater detail.  Thank you for your cooperation.