Posted on: Thursday, November 13, 2003

Man sues over delay in citizenship application

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

An Iranian man is accusing the federal government of delaying his American citizenship application because of his nationality.

Fereidon Shemirani filed a complaint Monday in U.S. District Court against Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security secretary, and David Gulick, interim district director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in Hawai'i. Shemirani is asking that both agencies be ordered to comply with the law and rule on his naturalization application, which Shemirani said has been on file since Jan. 7, 2002.

In his lawsuit, Shemirani, 39, said he has been in the United States since 1981, married a U.S. citizen in 1998, and obtained permanent residence status in December 2001. On Jan. 7, 2002, Shemirani applied for naturalization and was interviewed by immigration officials on Sept. 24, 2002.

Attorney Gary Singh, who filed the complaint on behalf of Shemirani, said the law requires a decision within 120 days of the interview. Singh said no reason is being given for the delay, except that officials are still doing a background check on Shemirani.

"I told (Shemirani), 'It's your name and where you're from.' He does not like to hear that, but those are the facts," Singh said.

"All we're asking is if he's qualified to be a U.S. citizen, naturalize him. If he's not, tell us why and we will take appropriate action from there."