A federal judge has rejected an emergency request from a foreign investor seeking to halt the denial of his residency status after his commercial enterprise was shut down due to a missed immigration appointment.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by Vishnu Menon and Lorient Roxboro, LLC, a “new commercial enterprise” established under the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program. Menon had sought to stay the effective date of the denial of his Form I-485 application to adjust his immigration status to permanent resident.
The dispute stems from an $800,000 investment Menon made into the Lorient project. Under the EB-5 framework, foreign nationals can apply for lawful residency by investing significant capital into U.S. businesses that create at least ten full-time jobs. These projects are typically sponsored by regional centers approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
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Lorient partnered with Great Lakes Regional Center LLC, which filed an I-956F project approval application in December 2023. As part of that process, project principals must submit background checks and attend biometrics appointments.
According to court documents, Al Kurdieh, one of the principals of Lorient’s managing member, failed to attend his scheduled biometrics screening. The plaintiffs alleged that Kurdieh never received the notice due to a USCIS mailing error. Because of the missed appointment, USCIS denied Lorient’s project application for “abandonment” in September 2024.
The denial of the core project triggered a domino effect for Menon. USCIS subsequently denied his I-526E immigrant investor petition in September 2025 and denied his I-485 residency application the following month. Subsequent motions to reopen the cases were rejected by the federal agency.
In upholding the agency’s actions, USCIS stated that biometric notices were properly mailed to Kurdieh and his attorney of record, and none were returned as undeliverable. Furthermore, the agency cited additional deficiencies in Lorient’s application, including issues related to its business plan, capital, and economic analysis.
The plaintiffs filed suit in February 2026, claiming the government’s actions were arbitrary, capricious, and violated due process. On April 14, 2026, Menon sought emergency intervention to stay the residency denial, arguing that without a court order, he would accrue more than 180 days of unlawful presence, triggering a mandatory three-year bar from re-entering the United States.
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In his memorandum opinion, Judge Nichols ruled that the court lacks jurisdiction to review discretionary immigration decisions under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citing Supreme Court precedent.
Judge Nichols also noted that even if the project’s denial was reviewable, the enterprise failed to show why the agency’s other cited grounds for denial were improper. He further ruled that the potential harm of removal does not legally qualify as irreparable because a deported individual can still pursue legal appeals from abroad.
The court concluded that the public interest and the balance of equities favored the government, noting that the plaintiffs waited until just days before the 180-day unlawful presence threshold to seek a temporary restraining order.
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