Visa Denial Upheld as Appeals Court Defers to Consular Officials

A United States citizen on Tuesday lost her lawsuit challenging the denial of her husband’s immigrant visa, when the Eleventh Circuit issued its first-ever published opinion considering the scope of a doctrine limiting judges’ ability to review consular officials’ decisions.

The doctrine of “consular nonreviewability"—which blocks courts from reviewing a consular official’s decision on a visa application so long as the reasoning is “facially legitimate and bona fide"—doesn’t operate by stripping federal courts of jurisdiction to hear visa challenges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held.

When this doctrine applies, lawsuits challenging an official’s decision should be ...