The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) provides free legal help to some refugees and displaced people. 

• IRAP helps some people find services and prepare refugee and visa applications. 
• IRAP is not part of any government, IOM, or UNHCR. 
• IRAP cannot grant refugee status or visas or speed up cases. 
• IRAP cannot provide financial help, find or pay for housing, or find jobs.
• All of IRAP’s help is free. No one affiliated with IRAP has the right to ask you for money or any other service.

IRAP decides to help people based on their need and eligibility for immigration status. IRAP does not decide to help people based on any other social or political or religious criteria.

This website provides general information about legal processes available to some refugees. It is not meant as legal advice for individual applications. 

Requirements may change. Always check for current requirements from the government or agency deciding your request.

If you are a refugee in an emergency, we recommend that you contact the UNHCR office in the country where you live. 

NOTE: This information is from JUNE 7, 2024. We try to update it when there are important changes but it could have changed because U.S. immigration laws change quickly. This information is educational and is not legal advice.

What does this article include?

• Credible Fear Interview and Reasonable Fear Interview basic information

• After a negative decision: The Immigration Judge Review     

• What happens if you are not eligible for asylum?  

Credible Fear Interview and Reasonable Fear Interview Basics

A Credible Fear Interview or Reasonable Fear Interview should be given to you if you enter the United States (usually without authorization or an appointment) and tell a United States government official that you are afraid of returning to your home country. During this interview, you will be asked about your experiences. After the interview, the official will decide if you can apply for asylum or other types of status in the United States or not. 

This will be a positive or negative decision. 

• A positive decision means that you have convinced the officer that you should be allowed to apply for asylum or other protection, called “withholding of removal” or “protection under the Convention Against Torture.”  
  • Many times, you will be freed from detention (but there are many factors considered and this is not guaranteed).
  • If you are allowed to apply for asylum and want to try, you still have to apply for asylum within 1 year of the date you entered the United States. 
  • If you entered the United States at the Mexican border after June 5, 2024 without an appointment, even if you pass your Credible Fear Interview you will only be allowed to apply for withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Under a rule issued in June 2024, people who enter without appointments during periods of high volume crossings are ineligible for asylum. Since June 5, 2024, it has been a high volume period. We expect it to remain a high volume period for the foreseeable future. This means that we expect people who enter without appointments to continue to be ineligible for asylum. Learn more about that Rule here.

• A negative decision means that you have not convinced the officer that you should be allowed to apply for asylum or withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture.     
  • This can happen for many reasons, including:
    • the officer did not believe you
    • the officer does not think the harm is severe enough
    • the officer believes the harm is not related to a reason the law recognizes, also called a “protected ground” (which includes things like political opinion and ethnicity). 
  • A negative decision can be reviewed by an Immigration Judge if you directly ask for it. 
    • When you are given the negative results of your interview, you should be asked if you would like a judge to review the decision. 
      • The government should give you a list of free lawyers you can ask for advice and representation.
      • If possible, you should contact a lawyer before the immigration judge review.
        • But the government does not have to provide a lawyer—and often people cannot find one. 
  • If you do not request a review after a negative credible fear interview decision, you will be deported. 

After a negative decision: The Immigration Judge Review    

How it works 

The judge will review the negative decision and make a brand new decision. Currently, these reviews happen over the phone for people in CBP custody and usually last less than 30 minutes. 

You have the right to have an interpreter in a language you understand. If the interpreter is not there, you should tell the judge you need an interpreter, and the judge must wait until the interpreter is there to start. If you have trouble understanding the interpreter provided, you should let the judge know right away.

You have the right to have a lawyer at the hearing, but the US government does not pay for one. If you want to have a lawyer there, or want to speak with one before the hearing, but you have not been able to find one, you should tell the judge. Unfortunately, a lot of people in CBP custody cannot find a lawyer who can help them, so many people have to go before the judge alone.

During the hearing, you should be able to give new information to the judge, or explain missing information or mistakes from the first interview, and argue why the negative decision was wrong. You can show new evidence, such as newspaper articles or letters from friends who saw the harm you experienced. This information can be submitted by talking or by writing, if it is possible to get a pen and paper. Some people get nervous in front of a judge, so writing can help you remember what you want to say or give the judge the information, even if you cannot talk about everything easily. 

The most important thing is to tell the truth. It is also important to tell the judge why something went wrong during the first interview, including feeling sick, not feeling comfortable sharing sensitive information, not understanding the questions or not understanding the interpreter. 

After the judge’s review

The judge will either agree or disagree with the first decision. 

• If the judge disagrees with the negative decision, that means the judge thinks you have met the requirements to show you can apply for asylum or other status (and you will now be allowed to apply for asylum or other status). 
• If the judge agrees with the negative decision, you usually have a right to request another review within 7 days of the judge’s decision. Generally, you are not allowed to request another review if you are not from Mexico and entered the US without an appointment on or after May 11, 2023 and have not been denied asylum in another country. 

What happens if you are not eligible for Asylum?

If you do not qualify for asylum, you may qualify to apply for “Withholding of Removal.”  Withholding of Removal status means you will be protected from being deported, and can legally stay in the United States. 

• To be eligible, you must show all the same things you have to show to qualify for asylum.
• The difference is that you must show you have at least a 51% chance of suffering persecution or serious harm if deported (higher than the 10% chance you must show to qualify for asylum). 
• If you are granted withholding of removal, it means that the U.S. government will not deport you, and you can stay in the United States and work legally.
  • You cannot travel outside of the U.S. or get permanent residence, and are not granted asylum. 
  • It can only be granted by an Immigration Judge. 

If you do not qualify for asylum you may qualify to apply for relief under the Convention Against Torture Act (CAT). 

• To qualify, you must show you are more likely than not to experience serious harm (enough to meet the definition of torture) if deported. 
  • This torture must come from the government in your home country, or the government in your home country ignoring a private party torturing you. (A private party means a person or group that is not the government is torturing you and the government knows or should know that the torture is happening.). 

If you do not qualify to apply for asylum, withholding, CAT relief, or some other form of relief from deportation, you will usually be deported quickly if you are in government custody.