USCIS Continues to Put the Safety of Americans First by Reestablishing Screening and Vetting Standards

WASHINGTON—U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify the interview criteria for aliens who are asylees and refugees and their derivative family members filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. 

Effective immediately, USCIS is reestablishing a uniform baseline of screening and vetting standards for interviews of aliens who are asylees and refugees. This policy update will help ensure program integrity by better detecting fraud, misrepresentation, national security threats, and public safety risks. Additionally, this leadership priority aligns USCIS with Executive Order 14161, Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats. 

"We owe every American the right to feel safe and secure. We strive to make sure that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or those who are already in the United States, uphold the highest sense of integrity and morals and adhere to our rules and regulations. We are returning to the toughest and most secure enhanced screening and vetting policies for our asylum and refugee processes,” said USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser. 

Under this guidance, USCIS clarifies its criteria for referring an alien asylee or refugee case for interview, including but not limited to: 

If the officer cannot verify the identity of the alien through information in the A-File, other USCIS records and systems, or other agency records or background checks; the alien is claiming a new identity; or the alien has unresolved or conflicting or multiple identities, other than those properly documented by legal name changes;    
If immigration records are insufficient for the officer to determine whether or not the alien has refugee status or evidence suggests the alien may have obtained refugee or asylum status through fraud or misrepresentation;    
If results from the alien’s FBI fingerprint check indicate a record that may cause the alien to be inadmissible or the alien has had two unclassifiable fingerprint responses;    
If the officer cannot determine the alien’s admissibility without an interview or an interview would yield clarifying information, such as with an unclear response to a request for evidence; 
If the officer articulates an inadmissibility concern regarding that the alien is a citizen of, or habitually resided in, a country that is now or was at the time of last residence, a state sponsor of terrorism; or  
If the alien has an articulable concern regarding national security or regarding a terrorism-related ground of inadmissibility.