CREDIBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS

When an individual comes to the United States seeking asylum, Customs and Border Protection or Border Patrol may decide to place the individual into immigration detention. This can be a stressful and confusing time for individuals who have stated a fear of returning back to their home country.

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The best scenario in such circumstances is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") issues a Notice to Appear ("NTA"). An NTA will provide the non-citizen with a court date.

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However, often ICE waits to issue an NTA until an asylum officer with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has conducted a Credible Fear Interview ("CFI"). Usually done over the phone, a non-citizen is entitled to have an attorney at this interview and an interpreter in the non-citizen's best language. The asylum officer will ask various questions related to the harm a non-citizen has experienced in the past and the fear a non-citizen has about any future torture or persecution. The asylum officer will also ask questions related to how you entered the United States.

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After this interview, the asylum officer will make a determination on whether you have a credible fear of returning to your country of nationality. A positive determination means you will be issued an NTA and be given a court date, and the individual's process for seeking asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under the Convention Against Torture will begin. A negative determination means that the asylum officer deemed the individual not to have a credible fear of returning. An NTA will not be issued and the non-citizen will not receive a court date. Instead, the non-citizen has seven days to appeal the decision in front of an immigration judge.

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