Russians received a 24-year record number of denials of asylum in the United States

The percentage of asylum approvals for Russian citizens has become the lowest since 2020

For the fiscal year 2025 (from October 2024 to September 2025), the United States approved 2,948 applications for asylum to Russian citizens, 1,270 people were refused, according to data from the TRAC project, which collects information about asylum seekers in the United States, Vorstka noted.

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The number of failures is the highest since at least 2001, the year from which TRAC statistics are available. Compared to fiscal year 2024, the number of denials has doubled, and the number of approvals has decreased by almost a quarter.

The shelter's overall approval rate fell from 85% in 2024 to 69%. This is the lowest figure in the last five years.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of Russians seeking asylum in the United States has increased sharply

In addition to approvals and denials, asylum seekers may receive other types of protection, such as protection from deportation under the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT), due to a national situation (natural disaster, armed conflict) until the situation at home improves, and waiver of deportation for those who demonstrate that their deportation would cause exceptional hardship to a relative who is a US citizen or permanent resident. Over the past 25 years, “other type of protection” for Russian citizens in the United States has not exceeded 6% of the total number of applications considered.

The number of refusals increased after applications for asylum in the United States from Russians sharply increased - this happened after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and after the announcement of mobilization in 2022. The number of asylum approvals in the United States has also increased significantly compared to the previous period.

Overall, over the fiscal years 2022–2025, Russian citizens were approved for more than twice as many asylum applications—9,806—than during the period from 2001 to 2021—4,542.

The largest number of asylum applications were processed in fiscal year 2024—more than 4.6 thousand. In fiscal year 2025, a little more than 4.3 thousand applications were reviewed. For comparison, in 2020 the United States considered 471 applications for asylum from Russians, and in 2021 - 257.

The highest application approval rate was in fiscal year 2022 at 87%. Overall, under President Joe Biden, the approval rate for Russian citizens to obtain asylum in the United States fluctuated between 85% and 87% from 2021 to 2024. During President Donald Trump's first term from 2017 to 2020, asylum approval rates ranged from 64 to 74%. The average approval rate under previous US presidents from 2001 to 2016 was 64%. Refusals were most common in 2005 and 2009—then the rate of asylum approval for Russian citizens was 57% and 54%, respectively.

Experts call even the current level of approval of applications “prohibitively high”

Despite the fact that the approval rate has decreased in 2025, Marina Sokolovskaya, director of development at the law firm Modern Law Group, calls it “prohibitively high.” “It’s quite difficult to lose a case if you’re from Russia,” she said in a conversation with Vorstka. According to her, among asylum seekers from different countries, in terms of the percentage of approvals, Russians rank second after citizens of Belarus.

Representatives of human rights organizations that help Russians in the process of obtaining asylum in different countries predict a further tightening of migration policy.

“Trump has radically reduced the flow of refugees at the southern border, organized the mass expulsion of thousands of asylum seekers on special flights - all this is perceived by his administration and supporters as a victory,” Dmitry Valuev, president of Russian America for Democracy in Russia, said in a conversation with Vorstka.

Thus, from January 20 to November 30, 2025, the United States sent 1,912 deportation flights to 79 countries, according to a report by Human Rights First . On four such special flights, 180–200 Russian citizens were taken out, Vorstka calculated. The remaining asylum seekers were expelled from the country on commercial flights after being refused.

The Fox News channel reported on January 14 that as of January 21, the United States will suspend the issuance of immigrant visas to citizens of 75 countries, including Russians. Soon White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed this. “The decision of the US government to suspend the issuance of visas to Russians should not affect asylum seekers,” Dmitry Valuev told Vorstka.

The TRAC Project is not an official source of information about asylum seekers in the United States. It is a data science and data dissemination organization founded in 1989 at Syracuse University. TRAC data may not be complete, and the actual number of asylum applications reviewed, approved, and denied may be higher.

Previously, “Layout” told how the procedure for obtaining asylum in the United States and EU countries works, how it has changed in recent years, who is denied asylum and why, how the deportation process works, and what Russians face after returning to their homeland.

Photo: View of the US border crossing from the city of Juarez, Mexico. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
Infographic: El

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