USCIS

# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers

More Sneaky Ways to Deny Asylum, Courtesy of the Asylum Office

When asylum seekers are permitted to present their applications for protection in the United States, their cases are often granted. That’s because the asylum law–as created by Congress–is fairly generous.

Our favorable humanitarian law conflicts with the Trump Administration’s goal of blocking people from obtaining asylum in the United States. Rather than attempting to amend the law, the Administration has implemented a series of procedural and administrative roadblocks to prevent applicants from having their cases evaluated on the merits.

Last week, USCIS issued some new rules for cases at the Asylum Office. The most noteworthy change relates to when evidence is due. Other new (or new-ish) rules concern rescheduling interviews and biometric appointments, and attorney attendance at interviews.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers# BIA# Immigration Court

The Time to Pay the Asylum Fee Is Now

Last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill created a filing fee for asylum and an annual fee that asylum seekers must pay each year their application is pending. Unfortunately, the roll out of the fee payment system was a mess. It was impossible to pay the fee unless you first received a notice from USCIS or EOIR (the Executive Office for Immigration Review–the office that oversees our nation’s Immigration Courts), but some people were able to pay without receiving a notice. Other people were not able to pay even with the notice. Many people never received a notice at all. The fee was temporarily paused by a lawsuit, but then went back into effect. In short, the whole annual asylum fee (AAF) system is confusing. It’s also frightening, since failure to pay could result in your asylum case being denied.

For many asylum seekers, the window to pay the AAF closed before they could pay (or before they even knew they were required to pay). Recently, however, the window has reopened for some affirmative asylum seekers, and they have been able to pay the fee. Of course, this happened without an announcement from USCIS; we know about it only because some asylum seekers have reported that they are now able to pay the fee. We do not know how long the payment window will remain open, and so if you have not yet paid the AAF, the time to do that is now.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers# Immigration Court

New Rule Aims to Send Affirmative Asylum Seekers to Court Without an Interview

Earlier this week, a new rule went into effect, which permits the Asylum Office to send certain affirmative asylum applicants to Immigration Court without an interview. The purported justification for the rule is “to reduce the backlog in the asylum system,” and–in the double-speak of USCIS–to “protect individuals who genuinely fear persecution and… help ensure that resources are directed to the timely adjudication of those claims instead of to those seeking to use the system as a loophole.”

I suppose denying cases without bothering to adjudicate them will save time. It will also reduce the backlog, at least the backlog at the Asylum Office. But shifting tens of thousands of cases to Immigration Court will increase the backlog there.

Here, we’ll take a look at what the rule says, how it might impact affirmative asylum seekers, and what you can do about it.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# Asylum Seekers

USCIS Memo Seeks to Limit Adjustment of Status; How Does This Affect Asylees, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers?

Last week, USCIS issued a Policy Memorandum stating that adjustment of status (i.e., obtaining a Green Card inside the United States) is an “extraordinary” form of relief and is only available to non-citizens as a “matter of discretion and administrative grace.” The memo reminds USCIS officers that with limited exceptions, “aliens” who arrive in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas “are generally expected to pursue an immigrant visa and admission from outside the United States if they wish to reside permanently in this country.”

While people who come to the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa and who later pursue AOS may be “otherwise eligible for adjustment of status,” their “attempt to avoid the ordinary consular immigrant visa process, usually accompanied by their violation of our immigration laws are adverse factors that the aliens may need ‘to offset… by a showing of unusual or even outstanding equities.'” “The absence of adverse factors, by itself, does not demonstrate such unusual or outstanding equities.”

The import of all this is that USCIS wants most people who come to the U.S. on non-immigrant visas to leave the United States and obtain their Green Card overseas through consular processing. How does this new memo apply to asylees, refugees, and people with pending asylum applications?

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# Asylum# International

The Administration’s Attack on I-730 Petitions

A few months ago, the Trump Administration instituted two travel bans, blocking nationals of 39 countries from coming to the United States. The bans explicitly stated that they would not apply to “an individual who has been granted asylum by the United States.” Commentators generally agreed (hoped?) that the bans would not apply to asylee or refugee “follow to join” dependents, since they were either coming to the U.S. in the same status as the principal applicant, or–if they were already in the United States–were obtaining asylum through USCIS.

Unfortunately, recent developments have proved said commentators wrong. The Administration has been preventing asylee and refugee dependents from banned countries from coming to the U.S. or obtaining status here.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers# Immigration

New Tool to Monitor USCIS’s Progress (or Lack Thereof)

The American Immigration Council (AIC) has a new web page that collects and organizes statistical information from USCIS. The data spans the period from FY2016 through FY2025 (October 2015 through September 2025), and covers most areas of immigration: humanitarian, family-based, employment, and work permits, among others. Organizing USCIS data this way reveals some interesting patterns, and may help set expectations for people with pending cases.

To fully appreciate the data, it’s worth spending some time on the AIC web page. Here, we’ll examine a few of the trends revealed by AIC, with an emphasis on asylum and asylum-adjacent applications.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# Immigration

Green Card Processing for Asylees Is Down 95% Since President Trump Took Office

A new report from the Cato Institute found that USCIS under the Trump Administration has slashed overall Green Card processing by about 50%. Certain categories of Green Card applicants–including asylees and refugees–have been hit much harder.

The reason for the slowdown is not entirely clear, as USCIS has been reticent to share much information about its operations. Today, we’ll talk about what we do know and how asylees and other Green Card applicants are being affected.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers

New–and Dangerous–Questions at the Asylum Office

Recently, we’ve been seeing some unusual questions during asylum interviews. Applicants are being asked about their views of America and of Jewish people. They are asked about their finances and community involvement, whether they attend religious services, and their family ties to the United States.

Since this is the Trump Administration, you can probably guess that the new questions are not designed to make life easier for asylum seekers. Here, we’ll look at what’s changed and why, and discuss how to prepare for this aspect of your interview.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers# Immigration# National Security

USCIS Ends Some “Holds,” Including on Certain Asylum Seekers

Last December, USCIS announced that it had “halted all asylum decisions” until it could “ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” Various other applications were also halted in the name of national security for individuals from the 39 “banned” countries.

Now, in a rare bit of good news from the Trump Administration, USCIS has issued an update indicating that some holds have been lifted for asylum seekers and others. The Agency has not provide much detail, but here, we’ll see what we can glean from this most recent announcement.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Office# Asylum Seekers# Credible Fear# Detention# Immigration Court

Affirmative Asylum Cases Dismissed and Sent to Court Without an Interview

One quiet trend that has recently come to light is a new practice at the Asylum Office to dismiss affirmative applications without processing them. The asylum seekers are then subject to “expedited removal” proceedings or otherwise served with a Notice to Appear in Immigration Court. Some are detained. A preliminary evaluation of these dismissals found that many were improper under the law.

Here, we’ll examine this new development, look at who is affected, and discuss how to prepare for the possibility that your case will be dismissed by the Asylum Office.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow