Visa Denial Can Get Review Because Government Gave Facts Late

A US citizen and her Salvadoran husband won their bid for court review of a consular decision to deny the husband’s visa application because the government didn’t meet a requirement of “timely and adequate notice” of the supporting facts.

The government’s nearly three-year wait to reveal the basis for its belief that Luis Asencio-Cordero was ineligible for admission to the US distinguished the case from another one where the notice came within a matter of weeks, the 2–1 US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Wednesday.

Consular decisions on visa applications are normally unreviewable, but there’s an exception ...