USCIS Updated Green Card Interview Requirements for Refugees and Asylees

On December 15, 2020, USCIS announced updated guidance expanding the discretionary criteria USCIS officers use to determine whether to interview applicants filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, based on refugee or asylee status. Whether an interview is necessary to determine the admissibility of an alien applying for lawful permanent resident status under INA § 209. The updates do not change the eligibility requirements to adjust status.  
The list of interview criteria can be found in the Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part L, Chapter 5, Part B.  Each determination by USCIS to waive or require an interview will continue to be made at the discretion of the USCIS officer on a case-by-case basis. The updated criteria may result in more applicants requested to appear for an interview.

B. Interview Criteria

The decision to interview a refugee applicant for adjustment of status is made on a case-by-case basis.[1] Interviews are generally required when an officer is unable to verify identity or determine admissibility based solely on the immigration records available to the officer. Although the decision to conduct an interview is made on a case-by-case basis, an officer should generally refer a case for interview if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

• The officer cannot verify the identity of the applicant through the information in the A-File. 
• The officer can verify the identity of the applicant through the information in the A-File, but the applicant is claiming a new identity.
• Immigration records are insufficient for the officer to determine whether or not the applicant has refugee status.
• The applicant has an approved Form I-730, but, if granted overseas, was not interviewed as part of the derivative refugee process or, if granted in the United States, was not interviewed prior to the approval.
• The applicant’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fingerprint results indicate that further processing is needed.
• The officer cannot determine the applicant’s admissibility without an interview.
• The officer determines that the applicant is inadmissible but that an interview is necessary to determine if a waiver is appropriate.
• The applicant has an articulable national security or terrorism-related ground of inadmissibility concern.
• Other eligibility fraud, identified on a case-by case basis, where Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS), Center Fraud Detection Operations (CFDO), or Background Check Units (BCU) recommends interview.
• Immigration records are insufficient for the officer to determine whether or not the applicant is inadmissible based on past or current placement in removal proceedings at any time.[2]
• The applicant has conflicting or multiple identities, other than properly documented by legal name changes.
• A sworn statement is required to address the applicant’s admissibility.
• An interview would yield clarifying information, such as with an unclear response to a request for evidence concerning the applicant’s admissibility.
• The applicant is a citizen of, or last habitually resided in, a country that is now, or was at the time of last residence, a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
• The officer has any other articulable concern regarding identity, inadmissibility, national security, public safety, or fraud, and recommends an interview to help resolve that concern.