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Asylum

Alert: Updated Interview Rescheduling Procedures for Affirmative Asylum Interviews

Starting Aug. 21, 2026, you must establish exceptional circumstances for USCIS to reschedule your asylum interview. Additionally, USCIS will no longer issue a Failure to Appear Warning notice after a missed interview. If you maintain a lawful basis to remain in the United States and you fail to appear for your interview without submitting a request to reschedule, either before your interview date or within 10 calendar days after your missed interview date, USCIS may dismiss your asylum application. If you do not maintain a lawful basis to remain in the United States, USCIS may refer your case to an immigration judge.

If you are a parolee who fails to appear for your asylum interview, USCIS will decide whether the purposes of parole have been served and determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether to terminate your parole and refer your case to an immigration judge.

Alert: Updated Evidence Submission Policy for Affirmative Asylum Applications

Starting Aug. 21, 2026, you must submit all evidence in support of your asylum application to the asylum office 14 calendar days before the date of your scheduled interview. Evidence submitted less than 14 calendar days from your scheduled interview may not be included with your asylum application, or USCIS may reschedule your asylum interview. A rescheduled asylum interview due to late evidence submission may affect your eligibility for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

Alert: Updated Biometric Appointment Rescheduling Procedures for Aliens Who Have Filed for Affirmative Asylum

On Aug. 21, 2026, USCIS implemented updated procedures for aliens who have filed Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, and are requesting to reschedule a biometric services appointment.

If you fail to appear for your biometric services appointment and are requesting to be scheduled for a new appointment, you must submit your reschedule request within 10 calendar days of your missed appointment. You can submit a reschedule request via my.uscis.gov/accounts or by calling the USCIS Contact Center. You must provide evidence of the exceptional circumstances that led to your failure to appear in your USCIS online account or to the Asylum Office. Failure to submit a reschedule request with the requested evidence, or failure to establish exceptional circumstances to excuse your failure to attend your biometric services appointment as initially scheduled, may cause USCIS to dismiss your asylum application, if you maintain a lawful basis to remain in the United States, or refer your application to an immigration judge, if you do not maintain a lawful basis to remain in the United States.

If you are a parolee who fails to appear for your biometric services appointment, USCIS will make a determination as to whether the purposes of parole have been served and determine on a case-by-case basis whether to terminate your parole and refer your case to an immigration judge.

Alert: Court Order on Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule

On Aug. 3, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a stay of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California's order in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden, 18-cv-06810 (N.D. Cal.), vacating the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways (CLP) rule. USCIS continued to apply the CLP rule during the stay. On April 10, 2025, the Ninth Circuit vacated its prior order staying proceedings and the district court's judgment and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. Although the CLP rule unsettled on May 12, 2025, its provisions remain applicable to those who entered the United States between May 12, 2023, and May 11, 2025. Until the district court renders a decision, USCIS will continue to apply the CLP rule where appropriate.

Under the rule, certain individuals who entered the United States through its southwest land border or adjacent coastal borders are presumed to be ineligible for asylum, unless they can demonstrate an exception to the rule or rebut the presumption.

What Is Asylum?

Every year people come to the United States seeking protection because they have suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution due to:

• Race
• Religion
• Nationality
• Membership in a particular social group
• Political opinion

You may only file this application if you are physically present in the United States, and you are not a U.S. citizen.

Currently, the option to file an online Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, is only available for certain affirmative asylum applicants. Affirmative asylum applicants may not file an online Form I-589 if they are an unaccompanied alien child as defined in 6 U.S.C. § 279(g) and are in removal proceedings; are among the categories of applicants who must currently file by mail with the Asylum Vetting Center as outlined in the Special Instructions section of the Form I-589 webpage; or have already submitted a Form I-589 that is still pending with USCIS.

If you are eligible for asylum, you may be permitted to remain in the United States. To apply for asylum affirmatively or defensively, file a Form I-589 within 1 year of your arrival to the United States.

You may include your spouse and children who are physically present in the United States as dependents on your affirmative or defensive asylum application at the time you file or at any time until a final decision is made on your application. To include your child as a dependent on your application, the child must be under 21 years old and unmarried.

If you were placed in expedited removal proceedings, you received a positive credible fear determination, and USCIS retained your asylum application for further consideration in an Asylum Merits Interview, see USCIS's page on Asylum Merits Interview processing after a positive credible fear determination.

If you have an asylum application pending with USCIS, you can check the status of your application at Case Status Online, using the receipt number provided after filing.

Refugee

Alert

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14163, Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program. Section 3(a) of the Executive Order suspended entry of refugees into the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) as of January 27, 2025, unless an exception under section 3(c) applies.

Alert

Effective April 23, 2026, USCIS no longer accepts or considers Requests for Review (RFRs) for Form I-590.

What Is a Refugee?

Under United States law, a refugee is someone who:

• Is located outside of the United States.
• Is of special humanitarian concern to the United States.
• Demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
• Is not firmly resettled in another country.
• Is admissible to the United States.

A refugee does not include anyone who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.