Affirmative Asylum Interview Scheduling

The Asylum Division seeks to prioritize the most recently filed affirmative asylum applications when scheduling affirmative asylum interviews. 

USCIS’ predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, first established the “last in, first out” (LIFO) interview scheduling approach as part of the asylum reforms of 1995 (PDF, 22.31 KB). The aim is to deter individuals from using the asylum backlog solely to obtain employment authorization by filing frivolous, fraudulent, or otherwise non-meritorious asylum applications.

Giving priority to recent filings typically allows USCIS to promptly place  individuals into removal proceedings if USCIS does not grant the asylum application, which reduces the incentive to file for asylum solely to obtain employment authorization.

USCIS schedules affirmative asylum interviews along two tracks simultaneously.

On the first track, USCIS generally schedules asylum interviews in the following order of priority:

• First priority: Applications that were scheduled for an interview, but the interview had to be rescheduled at the applicant’s request or the needs of USCIS.
• Second priority: Applications that have been pending 21 days or fewer.
• Third priority: All other pending affirmative asylum applications, starting with newer filings and working back towards older filings.

Workload priorities related to border enforcement, statutory requirements, and litigation obligations affect USCIS’ ability to schedule all new applications for an interview within 21 days.

On the second track, USCIS assigns some of its asylum officers to complete affirmative asylum applications pending in the backlog, starting with the oldest applications and working forward. This permits some of the oldest pending applications to be completed in chronological order.

Asylum office directors may consider, on a case-by-case basis, an urgent request to be scheduled for an interview outside of the priority order listed above. Please submit any urgent interview scheduling requests in writing to the asylum office with jurisdiction over your application. Go to the USCIS Service and Office Locator page for contact information.

For asylum applicants who live far from an asylum office, asylum offices schedule asylum interviews at “circuit ride” locations, which are often USCIS field offices, as resources permit. Please contact the asylum office with jurisdiction over your application for more detailed information.

Note that this scheduling priority approach applies to affirmative asylum interviews, but not to Asylum Merits Interviews. See the Asylum Merits Interview with USCIS: Processing After a Positive Credible Fear Determination page for more information.