Glossary

Credible fear interview

An initial screening by an asylum officer to decide if a migrant has a significant possibility of establishing an asylum claim.

Also called: credible fear screening, CFI, reasonable fear interview

A credible fear interview is a screening conducted by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum officer for a person who is subject to expedited removal and who says that they fear returning to their country. The officer decides whether there is a "significant possibility" that the person could establish eligibility for asylum or related protection in a full hearing.

The threshold is intentionally lower than that of an actual asylum claim, because it is a screening. If an officer finds credible fear, the person is placed in regular removal proceedings before an immigration judge, where the asylum case is decided, and may be released or detained while waiting. If the officer does not, the person can ask an immigration judge to review the decision, and otherwise is removed.

Credible-fear numbers have been a major point of dispute. In recent years, most migrants who passed through the screening were found to have credible fear, a rate that supporters of stricter enforcement argue shows that the standard is too lenient, and which others say reflects real persecution fears; a much smaller share is ultimately granted asylum at the end of the process. Efforts to raise the standard, speed up processing or conduct interviews at the border, and the use of "asylum cooperative agreements" are recurring themes, as with catch and release and Remain in Mexico.

Last reviewed November 8, 2026

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Related terms

Asylum Legal protection from removal for people already in or arriving at the U.S. who show a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country. Expedited removal A process letting immigration officers deport certain noncitizens quickly, without an immigration-judge hearing, unless they claim fear or U.S. status. Humanitarian parole Temporary permission, granted case by case, to enter or stay in the U.S. for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Catch and release A critics' label for releasing apprehended migrants into the U.S. to await immigration proceedings rather than detaining them. Remain in Mexico A policy, begun in 2019, that sent asylum seekers who crossed the southern border to wait in Mexico while their U.S. cases were decided.