United States Fifth Circuit

In a suit brought to adjudicate plaintiff's application for naturalization or to compel defendants to perform their duty to adjudicate his application, dismissal of the suit is reversed where the district court erred in holding that the 120-day period for approval or denial of the application begins to run only when all of the application requirements are complete and that petitioner's application was not complete because the FBI had not concluded its background investigation. The term "examination" under the applicable statute refers to the CIS's initial interview of the applicant, and the 120-day period begins to run as of the date that interview is concluded.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/14/2007
• Published 09/17/2007

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before REAVLEY, WIENER, and DEMOSS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Imran B. Mirza, Houston, TX, for Walji., Charles Roth, Nat. Imm. Justice Ctr., Chicago, IL, for Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Charmaine Aarons Holder, Houston, TX, Elizabeth J. Stevens, OIL, Daniel Jerome Davis, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civ. Div., Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appellees.