The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced an important change to the affirmative asylum process that could significantly affect thousands of asylum applicants nationwide. Effective immediately, USCIS has issued an Interim Final Rule allowing the agency, in certain circumstances, to refer asylum applications directly to the Immigration Court without first conducting an affirmative asylum interview.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the purpose of this change is to reduce the growing asylum backlog and improve the efficiency of the asylum system.
Under the traditional affirmative asylum process, an applicant generally files Form I-589 with USCIS, attends an interview before an Asylum Officer, and then receives an approval, denial, or referral to Immigration Court.
Under the newly announced rule, USCIS now has authority in qualifying cases to refer certain asylum applications directly to an Immigration Judge without first conducting the asylum interview.