USCIS announces "last in-first out" processing for affirmative asylum interviews

Original Date Announced
January 26, 2018
USCIS announces it will interview the most recent affirmative asylum applicants first. This policy is intended to reduce incentives to file frivolous or non-meritorious asylum applications in order to obtain work authorization. Individuals not granted asylum will be promptly placed into removal proceedings. Obama administration had switched to processing claims based on date of filing to reduce the backlogs.
[ID #28]
USCIS: Affirmative Asylum Interview Scheduling
Effective Date
January 29, 2018
Biden Administration Action: Modified
March 29, 2024
Affirmative Asylum Interview Scheduling

This Biden Administration action modifies the policy identified in this entry.
The Biden Administration modified the last-in-first-out approach by creating a second track for asylum officers to process the longest pending cases. On the first track, USCIS generally schedules asylum interviews in three orders of priority. 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.
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Partially in effect

March 29, 2024 Action: Modified Affirmative Asylum Interview Scheduling

March 29, 2024

Status: Final/Actual

Trump Administration Action: Change in Practice

Subject Matter: Asylum, Withholding and CAT

Agencies Affected: USCIS

Pre Trump-Era Policies

September 8, 2016
Beginning in Dec. 2014, USCIS had prioritized asylum interviews in chronological order, hearing the oldest cases first. Before this change, INS/DHS would interview the most recent cases first. The change was made to interview older applications first because the backlog had become overbearing—with applicants waiting five years or more for an asylum interview.
USCIS: The Affirmative Asylum Process