Let's say you've recently submitted an I-589 to ask for asylum in the United States, perhaps after coming here on a visa then realizing it would be too dangerous to return to the country where you faced persecution. You might have important reasons to hope for a quick approval of your asylum case, perhaps so that your husband or wife and children can join you in the United States. But depending on whom you talk to, you might hear widely differing accounts of how long the asylum application process will take: weeks, months, or even years.
Here, we'll explain why that is, and help you know what to expect, including:
- the many steps involved in gaining approval of asylum in the U.S.
- the order in which the U.S. government processes newly filed asylum applications
- how long it might take to get an Asylum Office decision on your case, and
- if your case is referred to the Immigration Court for deportation proceedings, how long that might take, as well as follow-up appeals if the case is denied.
WARNING: Following the November 2025 shooting of National Guard members by an Afghan immigrant in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration announced that it's pausing all asylum decisions. This will be in effect until the government "can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." The advice below pertains to such time as this pause is lifted.
The Asylum Process Involves Multiple Steps
The first thing to know is that many applicants must go through multiple steps (and often denials) before getting an approval for asylum, including:
- attending a hearing at a USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) Asylum Office
- if you aren't approved at the hearing, defending the case in an immigration court hearing (removal or deportation proceedings)
- if the immigration judge denies the case, asking to appeal the immigration judge's decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (in writing), and
- if the BIA doesn't accept and grant your case, pursuing further appeals through the federal court system.
Also, the length of time it takes for an affirmatively filed asylum application to be given a final approval or denial depends on factors such as how backed up the U.S. government is with applications, its current policy on handling backlogs, and of course the strength of your case, and therefore how many layers of decision maker it has to go through.
Asylum Office Processing Times
After you submit an application for asylum (I-589 and supporting documents) to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (either online or by mail), the agency will need to review it for completeness, schedule you for a fingerprinting (biometrics) appointment, and later schedule you for an in-person interview at a local USCIS office.
At various times in the past, this has all taken place within a matter of months, at least for most applicants. More recently, however, USCIS has been so overwhelmed with applications that it has attempted to create various priority lists.
USCIS's current stated priorities involve first interviewing rescheduled cases, then the most recent applicants. The idea is to deter people from applying mainly to get a work permit (which one can, by law, only do if USCIS delays are long enough). That basically means some people will receive an interview within weeks of submitting their I-589, while others who did so long ago will wait months or even years for an interview. Of course, this policy could change at any time. See USCIS's Affirmative Asylum Interview Scheduling page for the latest information on agency priorities.
The asylum interview itself typically takes around 1/2 hour.
Once you have filed an asylum application, you can check your personal case status on the USCIS website.
After your interview, the Asylum Office (AO) should issue its decision within a matter of weeks. If you get an approval, that's great; you are an asylee, and on your way to qualifying for U.S. lawful permanent residence and eventually naturalized U.S. citizenship. However, a current hurdle for some is that numerous countries are under a travel ban (see the June 4, 2025 White House Fact Sheet and Proclamation.) If your country is on the list and you are in the United States, you can still submit an asylum application, but it will be put on hold until the ban is lifted.
If your asylum application is not approved by the AO, and are not currently in valid status (for instance, if you entered on a visa but have overstayed the time on the I-94 that was created for you upon U.S. entry), you will be referred to another part of the U.S. government bureaucracy: the Immigration Court, or Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) for removal proceedings.
Immigration Court (EOIR) Hearing and Decision on Your Asylum Case
The Immigration Court or EOIR has its own issues with being overburdened with cases of people defending against removal (deportation). The backlog is in the millions of cases, and the Trump Administration has fired numerous judges. A "normal" EOIR hearing before an immigration judge might take several hours. You, with the help of your attorney if you hire one (and you should), will testify and present evidence about your case so that the judge can consider the whole story. The attorney for the U.S. government Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will have a chance to cross-examine you.
If all this takes more than the allotted hours at one hearing, the judge might order a "continuance," so that the hearing is resumed on another day; and it won't be the day after. Continuances are usually scheduled weeks or months into the future, depending on what space the judge has on the calendar.
You can check on the status of your case on the EOIR website, but you might get bare-bones assessments like "pending."
At the end of your court proceedings or soon after, the judge will issue an oral or written decision. If the judge approves you for asylum, that's great. Nevertheless, the approval is not final until you find out whether the government attorney plans to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (B.I.A.). If the DHS attorney "reserves appeal," then you'll have to wait out the appeal period to find out whether the DHS attorney does, in fact, file an appeal (on Form EOIR-26). A copy of the notice will be sent to you. How long is that appeal period? Currently it's 30 days, but if a proposed new set of rules goes through, it will go down to 10 days starting on March 9, 2026.
If the DHS attorney doesn't appeal, the judge's decision is final, and you are an asylee. Read more on what to do once you have received asylum.
Decision on Your Asylum Case by the B.I.A.
If the DHS attorney does decide to appeal, then another long wait lies ahead of you while the B.I.A. considers your case. You won't need to appear in person, but should have an attorney file a legal brief on your behalf, explaining why the judge made a mistake and you deserve asylum after all. The B.I.A. decision often takes between six months and two years to receive. Again, you can check the EOIR case status website, but you might be told the case is pending for some time.
The length of time depends not only on how many appeals it's dealing with but how complex your case is. Once again, the decision could go in your favor, but the U.S. government could file an appeal, and then you'd have to wait even longer for a final decision.
Decisions by U.S. Federal Courts on Your Asylum Case
If either you or the DHS attorney appeals the B.I.A. decision, then the next step is to the federal circuit court of appeals, and after that the Supreme Court (although it rarely accepts individual asylum cases).
At this point, you are no longer within the immigration system, and thus it's impossible to say what you should expect in terms of timing. Federal court appeals do, however, commonly take months or years to complete. You would seriously need a lawyer's help for this.
Should You Hire an Attorney to Help With Your Asylum Case?
You would be wise to consult an immigration attorney before applying for asylum. The stakes are higher than ever, as the U.S. government is making efforts to stop cases in their tracks, for example by detaining people who entered unlawfully and send would-be asylees to supposedly safe third countries. Some lawyers, particularly ones working at nonprofit charitable organizations, offer pro bono (free) or low-cost services to people fleeing persecution.