Filing Tips: Affirmative Asylum Applications
October 6, 2023
Recently, USCIS received increased numbers of paper-filed Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, that we must reject because they are incomplete or improperly filed. To avoid a filing rejection and ensure timely acceptance of your affirmative asylum application by USCIS, it is important to properly submit a complete and signed application. Please carefully review the following filing tips and online resources for more information on the filing requirements.
Filing Tips
- Review the Instructions for Form I-589 for eligibility requirements for yourself, your spouse, and your children.
- Use our Filing Instructions Tool to determine if you can file online.
- Submit Form I-589 with the newest edition date, 03/01/23. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.
- You must include all pages of Form I-589.
- Make sure that the form edition date and page numbers are visible at the bottom of all pages and that all pages are from the same form edition. If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form.
- You must sign the form in Part D on Page 9.
- You must complete Form I-589 in English, including explanation fields on the form.
- Do not submit a passport-style photo, multiple copies of the form, or multiple copies of supporting documentation when submitting Form I-589.
- See the ‘Form Filing Tips’ section of the Form I-589 page for additional filing tips.
Filing Location
To avoid rejections and processing delays, you must file your affirmative asylum application at the correct location. To determine where to file your Form I-589, see the ‘Where to File’ section of our Form I-589 page. You can also use our Filing Instructions Tool. After you answer a series of questions, the tool will provide information about where to file Form I-589 based on the information that you provide.
Specific content can be found here:
https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/form-i-589-filing-instructions-tool