USCIS Pauses All Pending Asylum Applications and Decisions on Pending Benefit Requests for Those from “High Risk” Countries

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it has paused the adjudication of (1) all pending asylum applications regardless of the applicant’s country of citizenship or birth and (2) all pending immigration benefit requests for individuals who are citizens of, or were born in, one the 19 countries listed in Presidential Proclamation 10949, which initially served to limit the entry of individuals from these “high risk” countries into the United States from abroad.  The 19 countries are: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.  It appears that this will include those with dual citizenship from another non-listed country, as well.

From the broad language of the announcement, the “high risk” country pause is presumed to apply to all immigration benefit requests, including, but not limited to, asylum, adjustment of status, naturalization, and even employment-based petitions (e.g., H-1B) and applications for employment authorization.  USCIS has already started canceling scheduled interviews for various benefits, including adjustment of status and naturalization.  The pause will not apply to USCIS screening activities, including credible fear, reasonable fear, safe third country, third country removal, and threshold screenings under the Asylum Cooperative Agreements.

In addition to a pause on adjudicating benefit requests, USCIS also mandated that individuals from the high risk countries with approved benefit requests who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 “undergo a thorough re-review process, including a potential interview and, if necessary, a re-interview, to fully assess all national security and public safety threats along with any other related grounds of inadmissibility or ineligibility.”

At least for now, the pause will not prevent any individual or employer from filing a benefit request, but it will impact USCIS’ action on that request.  Affected individuals and employers should therefore be mindful of adjudication delays as well as possible denials or requests for additional information as a result of additional screening.  Individuals subject to the “re-review” process noted above should also be aware that USCIS may re-open a previously approved case and require further screening or interview(s), and potentially even change the adjudication outcome.

While the pause is currently limited to asylum applicants and nationals of the above-listed "high risk" countries, media sources have reported that the administration is considering expanding the travel ban to additional countries and therefore, the pause on immigration benefit requests and re-review procedures for approved cases could apply to more individuals in the future.