Akram v. Kao

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedSeptember 30, 2025
DocketCivil Action No. 2024-2502
StatusPublished

This text of Akram v. Kao (Akram v. Kao) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Akram v. Kao, (D.D.C. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

____________________________________ ) SHAKEEL AKRAM, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 24-2502 (PLF) ) PAULINE KAO, Consul General, U.S., ) 1 Consulate General in Guangzhou, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ____________________________________)

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

On November 4, 2024, defendants moved to dismiss plaintiff’s Petition for Writ

of Mandamus and Complaint for Injunctive Relief (“Compl.”) [Dkt. No. 1]. See Defendants’

Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 6]. Defendants’ motion has been fully briefed and is now ripe for

decision. See Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 7]; Defendants’

Reply in Further Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 8].

On September 9, 2025, plaintiff submitted a Notice of Supplemental Authority

informing the Court of Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s recent decision in Mehrpooya v. Allen, Civil

Action No. 24-2340 (LLA), 2025 WL 2549279 (D.D.C. Sept. 4, 2025). See Notice of

Supplemental Authority [Dkt. No. 9]. Defendants responded on September 23, 2025.

See Defendants’ Response to Plaintiff’s Notice of Supplemental Authority [Dkt. No. 10].

1 Pursuant to Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Marco A. Rubio, current U.S. Secretary of State, and Gregory C. May, current Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in China, are “automatically substituted” as parties to this litigation. Plaintiff alleges that a consular officer interviewed plaintiff, refused his visa

application pursuant to Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C.

§ 1201(g), and placed his application in “administrative processing.” See Compl. ¶¶ 22, 23.

Plaintiff now challenges defendants’ failure to finally adjudicate plaintiff’s visa application

within a reasonable time, and alleges causes of action arising under both the APA, 5 U.S.C.

§ 706(1), and the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1361. See Compl. ¶¶ 32-63.

In two recent opinions, this Court rejected visa applicants’ materially identical

claims under the APA and the Mandamus Act, finding that the Court lacks jurisdiction to compel

the government to further adjudicate a visa application after the visa has been officially “refused”

pursuant to Section 221(g) of the INA. See Datta v. Rubio (“Datta”), Civil Action No. 24-2937

(PLF), 2025 WL 752643 (D.D.C. Mar. 10, 2025); Robles Hurtado v. Foley (“Hurtado”), Civil

Action No. 24-3270 (PLF), 2025 WL 2757557 (D.D.C. Sept. 29, 2025). The Court’s rulings in

Datta and Hurtado are dispositive of plaintiff’s claims.2 The Court therefore will grant

defendants’ motion to dismiss. Accordingly, it is hereby

ORDERED that defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 6] is GRANTED; it is

FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus and

Complaint for Injunctive Relief [Dkt. No. 1] is DISMISSED; and it is

2 As for the supplemental authority submitted by plaintiff, the Court respectfully disagrees with Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s holding in Mehrpooya v. Allen, 2025 WL 2549279. See Hurtado, 2025 WL 2757557, at *5 n.6. 2

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