How to Check Your Asylum Clock Online: USCIS and EOIR

To check your asylum clock online, use the USCIS Case Status Online tool at egov.uscis.gov if your Form I-589 is pending with a USCIS asylum office, or use EOIR’s Automated Case Information System at acis.eoir.justice.gov if your case is in immigration court. For court cases, the EOIR automated phone line at 1-800-898-7180 gives you the most reliable clock count. Both systems show whether your 180-day asylum EAD clock is running or stopped and how many days have accumulated toward work authorization eligibility.

What the Clock Is You’re Checking

The 180-day Asylum EAD Clock counts how long your Form I-589 has been pending, either with USCIS or with an immigration court under the Executive Office for Immigration Review.¹ It determines when you become eligible for an Employment Authorization Document. You can file Form I-765 after 150 days on the clock, but USCIS will not approve the EAD until day 180.² Neither number includes days you caused a delay.

The clock starts on the date the receiving office got your complete asylum application. If your first submission was returned as incomplete, the clock starts on the date the complete version arrived.¹

Checking Through USCIS Case Status Online

If your asylum application is with a USCIS asylum office (an affirmative case), the Case Status Online tool at egov.uscis.gov is the right place. It shows your current case status, whether the 180-day clock is stopped because of an applicant-caused delay, and how many total days had accrued before any stoppage.¹

You need your 13-character receipt number: three letters followed by ten digits, for example MSC followed by ten numbers. It appears on any Notice of Action USCIS has sent you.³ The most common is Form I-797C, which USCIS uses to confirm receipt of your application, schedule interviews, and send other case updates.⁴

You can also create a USCIS online account at myaccount.uscis.gov. The account lets you receive electronic updates, manage your contact information, and track multiple applications from one dashboard. That is useful because requests for evidence and interview scheduling both can affect your clock, and catching those notices early gives you time to respond before the clock is touched.

Checking Through EOIR for Immigration Court Cases

If your case is in immigration court, USCIS Case Status Online will not have your clock. Use EOIR instead. There are two tools.

The Automated Case Information System (ACIS) at acis.eoir.justice.gov shows the status of cases before immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals.⁵ It is helpful for hearing dates and general status.

For the actual clock number, call the EOIR automated line at 1-800-898-7180 (TDD: 800-828-1120).⁶ Select your language and enter your nine-digit A-number (your alien registration number). If yours has only eight digits, add a zero to the front. The system reports how many days your case has been pending and whether the clock is running.

When to Check Both Systems

Check both if your case has moved between agencies. USCIS and EOIR track the clock separately, but an application that starts affirmatively with a USCIS asylum office and later gets referred to immigration court can accumulate days across both systems. If you only check the system your case started in, you may be looking at a stale number.

Reading What You See: What Stops the Clock

When your clock shows fewer days than you expected, or shows as stopped, it is usually because of something the government treats as an applicant-caused delay. Any delay you “request or cause” freezes the count.¹

For a case at a USCIS asylum office, common triggers include:

Requesting to reschedule your interview. The clock stops and only resumes when you appear at the rescheduled interview.
Asking for extra time to submit documents. Same result: frozen until you appear at the rescheduled interview.
Failing to appear for your interview. The clock stops, and restarting it after a no-show is harder than a simple reschedule.
Requesting a case transfer to a new asylum office after a move. The clock stops until you appear at your interview at the new office.

For a case in immigration court, the clock stops when the judge grants a delay attributed to you. Common examples are a continuance to find an attorney, a change of venue, or declining an expedited hearing. The clock generally resumes at your next hearing. Delays caused by the court or the government should not stop your clock.¹

One boundary worth flagging while you read the number: filing a motion to reopen or a petition for review does not by itself keep your application “pending” for clock purposes. Your application only counts as pending again if the BIA or a court actually grants the motion and remands the case.¹

If the Number Looks Wrong

Clock errors happen. A delay may be attributed to you when the government caused it, or your total may be lower than the days you have actually accumulated. To check, compare what CSOL or the EOIR phone line reports against your own file: every notice, hearing schedule, interview appointment, and request for evidence. If the clock stopped on a date when you did not request any delay, that is a discrepancy worth pursuing.

If Your Case Is in Immigration Court

Email your correction request to the asylum clock address listed in the “Contact the Court” section of your immigration court’s website.⁶ Include your name, your A-number, a clear explanation of what you believe is wrong, and any supporting documents.

If Your Case Is on Appeal

Corrections for cases on appeal to the BIA go to EOIR’s Office of the General Counsel. Email Asylum.Clock.OGC@usdoj.gov, or write to the Office of the General Counsel, Executive Office for Immigration Review, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2600, Falls Church, VA 22041, and mark the envelope “Attention: Asylum EAD Clock Request.” Include the applicant’s name, A-number, and the reason for the correction.⁶

If Your Case Is With a USCIS Asylum Office

Contact USCIS directly. When the dispute is about who caused a delay, an immigration attorney can help, because those arguments often require pulling evidence from hearing transcripts and case records.

Why It Pays to Check Regularly Now

Several administrative changes have already taken effect that make close monitoring more important. EADs issued to asylum seekers after December 4, 2025, are valid for 18 months rather than the previous five years. USCIS also stopped issuing automatic extensions for renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025. Filing fees have also moved: the initial asylum-based EAD is $560 as of January 1, 2026, and renewals are $275.⁷

A February 2026 DHS proposed rule would go further, including making asylum seekers who entered outside a lawful port of entry ineligible for a (c)(8) EAD, with limited exceptions.⁸ It is a proposal, not yet final. Together, these changes are the reason to log in, look at your clock number, and confirm it against your records on a regular schedule rather than waiting until you think you have hit 150 days.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Applicant-Caused Delays in Adjudications of Asylum Applications and Impact on Employment Authorization
2
eCFR. 8 CFR 208.7 – Employment Authorization
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Checking Your Case Status Online
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action
5
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Automated Case Information
6
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Asylum EAD Clock Correction Requests
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration-Related Fees
8
Federal Register. Employment Authorization Reform for Asylum Applicants