Asylum and immigration data definitions
Plain-language definitions for the numbers and categories across AsylumCompass.
Proceeding event
One administrative proceeding recorded by EOIR. A person or case may have multiple proceedings. Coverage summaries include associated source proceedings before asylum linkage, eligibility, date and outcome checks; not every proceeding contributes to an asylum statistic.
Eligible merits record
An accepted proceeding in the stated case-type and completion-date scope, classified as grant (G/I/P) or denial (D). Other dispositions are outside this denominator.
Fiscal year
The federal fiscal year runs from 10-01 of the preceding calendar year through 09-30; FY2025 covers 2024-10-01–2025-09-30.
Missing, empty and failed states
Unconfirmed identity, no associated source records, no asylum-linked records, records excluded by counting rules, missing eligible dates, no grants or denials, no matches for current filters and loading failure describe different states. Unknown is not zero. Blank dates or outcomes do not prove a case is pending, undecided or that a judge did not serve. Missing dates and outcomes may overlap.
Not calculable
When grants plus denials equals zero, G / (G + D) is not calculable and is not shown as 0%. A verified zero count is different from an unknown, withheld or unavailable count.
Source coverage
Coverage describes what the pinned source edition contains for an identity, before a reader filters the dated records. Identity linkage, original proceedings, asylum linkage, eligibility, dates and outcomes are separate checks. A linked judge code is an association in the source, not verified authorship of every recorded outcome.
Percentage points and percent change
A share rising from 20% to 30% increases by 10 percentage points, or 50% relative to its starting value. Annual grant-share differences use percentage points. Counts and proportions retain their stated populations and denominators.
Suppression
A source-suppressed value is not published by its source. AsylumCompass BIA v1 also applies local small-cell and complementary masks to its national companion; other editions have their own disclosure rules. A withheld or missing value is not zero. An absent complete-source group means no eligible record only within its defined population.
Nationality cohort
Nationality is an administrative source category, not a measure of identity or residence.
Pending stock versus flow
Pending counts measure an outstanding inventory at a point in time. Filings and completions count events during a period. Their difference need not exactly reconcile inventory because transfers, reopenings, revisions and definitions may differ.