AILA’s Advocacy Action Center allows you to advocate for legislative and policy reforms consistent with AILA’s principles and priorities.
Get InvolvedThe brand-new 18th edition of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook is now shipping.
Order NowLearn how to tackle challenges like finding and retaining affordable staff, working better in a hybrid or remote environment, when and how to raise fees, and much more.
Register NowAILALink puts an entire immigration law library at your fingertips! Search the AILALink database for all your practice needs—statutes, regs, case law, agency guidance, publications, and more.
AILA Doc. No. 22071302 | Dated April 13, 2023
The Biden Administration has temporarily paused enrolling new asylum seekers into the asylum processing rule in anticipation of the end of Title 42.
Watch this page for more information as it is made available.
The interim final rule “Procedures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Protection Claims by Asylum Officers” (“Asylum Processing Rule” or APR) went into effect on May 31, 2022, changing the way DHS processes asylum cases for individuals in expedited removal. The APR creates a significantly condensed processing time and shifts some of the processing that used to happen at the southern border to interior cities. Immigration attorneys around the country are needed to help asylum seekers navigate this new process.
Under the APR, asylum seekers who pass a credible fear interview will have their interview count as an asylum application before USCIS and have an “Asylum Merits Interview” (AMI) scheduled within 21 to 45 days. The asylum officer will be based out of one of the cities currently designated by USCIS (Boston, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Chicago), not at the border. If asylum is denied, then the person will be referred to an immigration court in the same city, and the immigration court is expected to resolve the case within two to four months.
Currently, at this stage of the rollout, the APR is limited to individuals who:
This page provides background materials, resources, and ways to sign up to be referred a client going through this process by a nonprofit on the southern border.
Report a Trend Observed in the New Credible Fear and Asylum Process
Sign up to Represent Asylum Seekers
[1] Imperial referrals are expected to begin later in December 2022.
Cite as AILA Doc. No. 22071302.
On December 1, our panel of experts will break down the latest updates in the processing of asylum claims at the border, and advise on best practices and strategies for navigating this complex system.
Register for Web SeminarAmerican Immigration Lawyers Association
1331 G Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Copyright © 1993-
American Immigration Lawyers Association.
AILA.org should not be relied upon as the exclusive source for your legal research. Nothing on AILA.org constitutes legal advice, and information on AILA.org is not a substitute for independent legal advice based on a thorough review and analysis of the facts of each individual case, and independent research based on statutory and regulatory authorities, case law, policy guidance, and for procedural issues, federal government websites.