DHS temporarily requires government-provided interpreters for many asylum interviews

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

CountryUnited States

Operative dateSeptember 23, 2020

CategoryHumanitarian

Policy toolProcessing

Affected groupNew applicants

Policy effect

DHS temporarily amended asylum interview rules so applicants unable to proceed in English would ordinarily use DHS-provided telephonic interpreters instead of bringing their own interpreters.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

Requirement Modification Due to COVID-19 AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ACTION: Temporary final rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This rule temporarily (for 180 days) amends existing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations to provide that asylum applicants who cannot proceed with the interview in English are no longer required to provide interpreters at the asylum interview but rather must ordinarily proceed with DHS-provided telephonic interpreters. DATES: This rule is effective … 18, 2020 to June 4, 2020. In an effort to promote safety as USCIS continues to reopen offices to the public for in-person services and resume necessary operations, DHS has determined, for 180 days, to no longer require asylum applicants who are unable to proceed with the interview in English to provide an interpreter. Rather, asylum applicants will ordinarily be required to proceed with government-provided telephonic contract interpreters so long as they speak one of the 47 languages found on the Required Languages for Interpreter Services BPA/GSA Language Schedule (``GSA Schedule''). If the applicant … amended by adding paragraph (h) to read as follows: 208.9 Procedure for interview before an asylum officer. * * * * * (h) Asylum Applicant Interpreters for asylum interviews conducted between September 23, 2020, through March 22, 2021. (1) Asylum applicants unable to proceed with the interview in English must use USCIS's telephonic interpreter services, so long as the applicant is fluent in one of the following languages: Akan, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Creole/Haitian Creole, Farsi-Afghani/Dari, Farsi-Iranian, Foo Chow/Fuzhou, French, Georgian, Gujarati …

Federal Register 85 FR 59655Federal Register 85 FR 59655. DHS temporarily requires government-provided interpreters for many asylum interviews. Effective 2020-09-23.Open official source

Retrieved from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/23/2020-21073/asylum-interview-interpreter-requirement-modification-due-to-covid-19

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Automated source validation is not independent human legal review. The finding should not be treated as legal advice. Record fcp-af9db9095b292695df65. Something wrong? Flag this record.

DHS temporarily requires government-provided interpreters for many asylum interviews

Policy effect

Official source excerpt

Review method

Other United States changes operative in 2020