Opinion ID: 76121
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nyaga's and Kibarra's Applications for Adjustment of Status

Text: 8 Nyaga, a native of Kenya, entered the United States in May 1996 on a student visa. In July 1996, Kibarra, Nyaga's wife, entered the United States on a visitor visa. Nyaga filed a petition in February or March 1997 to enter the Fiscal Year 1998 2 Diversity Visa Program lottery. In a letter dated July 1, 1997, Nyaga was notified that he had been selected as a lottery winner. The letter informed him that 100,000 petitions had been selected for further processing, and that only 55,000 diversity visas were available under the Fiscal Year 1998 Diversity Visa Program. Nyaga was also informed, in a subsequent letter, that the INS would not accept applications to adjust status based on the Fiscal Year 1998 Diversity Visa Program until October 1, 1997, the first day of fiscal year 1998. 9 In October 1997, Nyaga submitted an application to adjust his status. Kibarra simultaneously submitted a derivative application to adjust her status based on her husband's eligibility to receive a diversity visa. Although Nyaga's and Kibarra's applications for adjustment of status were submitted in October 1997, their applications were not complete until the INS received their processing fees on February 2, 1998. After an applicant has submitted a complete application, other agencies assist with a background investigation that includes an FBI fingerprint check, a CIA name check, and a records check with the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the applicant's native country. On February 20, 1998, the INS forwarded Nyaga's and Kibarra's fingerprint cards to the FBI. The INS took no further action to process Nyaga's or Kibarra's adjustment applications before September 30, 1998, the final day of fiscal year 1998. 10 Under the Fiscal Year 1998 Diversity Visa Program, 97,319 applicants were designated as lottery winners eligible to receive a visa and 55,000 diversity visas were available. Only 51,565 diversity visas were actually issued under the program; almost 3,500 authorized diversity visas were not issued. Neither Nyaga's nor Kibarra's adjustment applications were processed before the end of fiscal year 1998, and neither Nyaga nor Kibarra received a visa. 11 From February 1998, when their applications were completed, until September 30, 1998, the end of the fiscal year, Nyaga and Kibarra did not formally inquire regarding the status of their applications because they were advised that they should not make such inquiries. 3 During fiscal year 1998, Nyaga attended at least two work authorization interviews, and he claims that he informally inquired about the status of his adjustment application during these interviews and was told that there was nothing he could do but wait. The INS does not have any record of these conversations. 12 On January 23, 2001, almost three years after their applications were completed, the INS interviewed Kibarra regarding her adjustment application. The INS denied Kibarra's application on February 28, 2001, on the grounds that Kibarra's derivative application was based on Nyaga's eligibility for a diversity visa and Nyaga was no longer eligible to receive a visa because fiscal year 1998 had ended. The INS did not issue a final decision on Nyaga's application before the Plaintiffs filed the complaint in this case.