Handles scheduled interviews for those seeking asylum, suspension of deportation, and special rule cancellation of removal issues only. Does not provide information or accept new applications.

USCIS Asylum Office | USCIS Asylum Office

Programs that prosecute and seek to obtain a legal ruling in proceedings generally held in Immigration Court for the removal (deportation) or exclusion of aliens charged with violations of immigration law. In these proceedings, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeks to show that the individual no longer has the right to enter or remain in the United States because they have entered the country illegally, have overstayed their authorized admission, have committed a crime, have made a false claim of U.S. citizenship or meet other criteria which constitute grounds for removal or inadmissibility. While, generally speaking, a person who is already in the United States cannot be expelled without first going through a removal hearing, someone arriving at the border or a port of entry can be forced to leave without review by a judge. Those who are removed are barred from returning to the U.S. for at least 10 years unless the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) grants a special waiver. Organizations involved in these proceedings include the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Removal/Deportation/Exclusion Adjudication

Programs that accept and make decisions regarding petitions for asylee status in situations where the individuals are unwilling or unable to return to or avail themselves of the protection of their country of nationality or last residence because they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group, or nationality. Asylum applications must be filed within one year of admission to the United States and can be made after admission or at a port of entry. Asylees may apply for lawful permanent residence status after one year.

Asylum Application Adjudication

Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services offices that are devoted to the evaluation of requests for sanctuary from foreign nationals or stateless individuals who claim persecution on the basis of their race, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group or nationality.