Immigration Court Grant Rates & Backlog
154,698 asylum merits decisions; 7.4% granted (2025-09 to 2026-08). Statistics describe past decisions, not individual outcomes. Not legal advice.
How we estimate
EOIR grant rate means grants divided by grants plus denials for asylum merits decisions, excluding other closures. Rates require at least 2 decisions; rankings require at least 30. Proceedings history can extend to 1951; the first recorded asylum merits month in this import is Dec 1972. Each dataset states its own coverage. Do not interpret proceedings coverage as asylum decision coverage. Reconstructed pending counts may differ from agency totals. Historical judge-code attribution is not verified personal tenure.
Totals and breakdowns use the canonical page period. Court and nationality trend tables include all available decision history; other trend tables use their labeled periods. All tables apply the display floor. Interactive filters can select a different period. Empty buckets and cells below the floor have no reported rate.
| Group | Grants | Denials | Merits decisions | Asylum merits grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,346 | 35,993 | 41,339 | 12.9% |
| 2026 | 6,119 | 107,240 | 113,359 | 5.4% |
| Group | Grants | Denials | Merits decisions | Asylum merits grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Represented | 10,714 | 107,279 | 117,993 | 9.1% |
| Not represented | 751 | 35,954 | 36,705 | 2.1% |
| Group | Grants | Denials | Merits decisions | Asylum merits grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never detained | 9,155 | 114,120 | 123,275 | 7.4% |
| Detained | 1,412 | 20,492 | 21,904 | 6.4% |
| Released | 898 | 8,618 | 9,516 | 9.4% |
| Unknown | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.0% |
Hearing calendar snapshot
Recorded next hearings have a median of Mar 2027 and a 90th percentile of Aug 2028, among 2,619,403 proceedings with future hearings in the Aug 2026 snapshot. Scheduled dates can change; this is not a measure of elapsed waiting time.
- Median recorded next hearing
- 2027-03
- 90th percentile recorded next hearing
- 2028-08
- Proceedings with a recorded future hearing
- 2619403
Guides
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of asylum seekers get granted asylum?
154,698 asylum merits decisions; 7.4% granted (2025-09 to 2026-08). The denominator includes grants and denials, excluding other closures. Statistics describe past decisions, not individual outcomes. Not legal advice.
What is the average wait time for an immigration hearing?
Recorded next hearings have a median of Mar 2027 and a 90th percentile of Aug 2028, among 2,619,403 proceedings with future hearings in the Aug 2026 snapshot. Scheduled dates can change; this is not a measure of elapsed waiting time. Backlog divided by recent monthly completions is a workload ratio, not a predicted hearing date. Check your own notice or official EOIR case information.
How long does the asylum process take?
Completed claims with recorded filing and decision dates averaged 754 days from filing to decision; this is not a forecast for pending cases. The data cannot predict how long a pending case will take. Court proceedings, USCIS interviews and green-card processing are different processes.
Where does Asylum Tracker get its data?
From EOIR FOIA case snapshots, USCIS Asylum Division publications and ICE detention statistics. Each source has a separate data-through date, publication or update date, and import date. View the linked releases and methodology.
Why is a grant rate or ranking missing?
We display a rate only with at least 2 merits decisions and rank judges or court comparisons only with at least 30. Small samples can vary widely. A missing rate is not a zero grant rate.