Nepali Asylum Grants Reach Lowest Point Since 2003

In fiscal year 2026, immigration judges granted asylum to only 58 Nepali applicants. This marks the lowest number of grants for Nepali individuals since 2003, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). This figure represents a significant drop from previous years, particularly from the peak of 675 grants in fiscal year 2023. These numbers reflect decisions made in federal immigration courts and do not include asylum applications decided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Court Decisions for Nepali Applicants

The recent decline in asylum grants for Nepali applicants is evident in the year-over-year data. After reaching a high in fiscal year 2023, the number of grants saw a steady decrease: 540 in fiscal year 2024, 304 in fiscal year 2025, and finally 58 in fiscal year 2026. Alongside the decrease in grants, asylum denials for Nepali applicants have risen. Denials increased from 318 in fiscal year 2025 to 458 in fiscal year 2026. Other forms of relief granted by the courts also saw a decrease, from 67 in fiscal year 2025 to 40 in fiscal year 2026.

It is important to distinguish between the number of grants and the asylum grant rate. While the grant rate compares approved cases to a total number of decisions, the grant count simply shows how many individuals received asylum. The data highlights a sharp shift in outcomes for Nepali applicants in immigration courts.

Comparing Nepali and Nationwide Asylum Outcomes

When looking at the broader picture from fiscal year 2001 to 2026, asylum grants have represented a larger portion of categorized outcomes for Nepali applicants compared to the nationwide average. For Nepali applicants, asylum grants accounted for 68.3% of categorized outcomes. In contrast, the nationwide share for asylum grants was 34.5% over the same period. These percentages are based on categorized outcomes that include asylum grants, asylum denials, and grants of other forms of relief.

The total number of categorized outcomes for Nepali applicants during this period was 10,752, with 7,342 being asylum grants, 3,139 denials, and 271 grants of other relief. Nationwide, over the same timeframe, immigration courts recorded 1,135,897 categorized outcomes. This included 391,496 asylum grants, 693,388 denials, and 51,013 grants of other relief.

In fiscal year 2026 alone, nationwide immigration courts recorded 10,516 asylum grants, 138,889 denials, and 9,108 grants of other relief. These national figures provide context for the individual outcomes seen for Nepali applicants.

Systemwide Case Management

The Executive Office for Immigration Review reported an increase in completed cases in fiscal year 2026, with 973,669 cases finalized, up from 798,975 in the previous fiscal year. Additionally, the number of pending cases in the immigration court system decreased by 421,741 during fiscal year 2026. While these systemwide measures indicate changes in court workload and case processing, they do not offer specific reasons for the observed decline in asylum grants for Nepali applicants.

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