09/07/2022 – USCIS Released Revised Editions of Forms I-589 and I-765

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released revised editions of Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, dated 07/26/22.

Effective Nov. 7, 2022, USCIS will only accept the 07/26/22 editions of the Form I-589 and Form I-765. Until then, you can submit either the new editions, or the previous editions of Form I-589 (dated 08/25/20) and Form I-765 (dated 05/31/22 and 08/25/20). The edition date is found at the bottom of the page on the form and its accompanying instructions. Please be mindful, however, that the previous editions contain various instructions that have been rendered obsolete in light of the Asylumworks vacatur.

On Feb. 7, 2022, in Asylumworks et al. v. Mayorkas et al., the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated two rules. Effective Feb. 8, 2022, USCIS stopped applying the June 22, 2020 final rule, Removal of 30-Day Processing Provision for Asylum Applicant-Related Form I-765 Employment Authorization Applications, and the June 26, 2020 final rule, Asylum Application, Interview, and Employment Authorization for Applicants, to asylum applicants.

Since Feb. 7, 2022, USCIS has applied the provisions in place before the above June 2020 rules took effect in August 2020. See 8 CFR §§ 208 and 274a. This change applies to adjudications of Form I-589 and/or Form I-765 pending with USCIS as of Feb. 8, 2022, or received on or after that date.

USCIS released the revised editions of Form I-589 and Form I-765 in compliance with the Asylumworks decision.