If your affirmative asylum interview notice says Long Island City, you have probably already searched for the “Long Island City asylum office” and found nothing. That is because there isn’t one, officially.
USCIS lists two facilities in Long Island City: an Application Support Center at 22-11 43rd Avenue, which does biometrics only, and the Queens Field Office at 31-00 47th Avenue, in the Falchi Building, which opened in October 2024 and handles green card, adjustment and naturalisation interviews. Neither is listed as an asylum office. The asylum offices covering this region are Bethpage and Newark.
And yet affirmative asylum interviews are conducted at the Queens Field Office. We know because we have interpreted at one — an asylum officer, questioning straight through a Form I-589, with a USCIS contract interpreter monitoring the session by telephone from another location. It was an asylum interview in every respect except the sign on the building.
So if your notice says Long Island City, it is not a mistake. Go by your notice.
We are interpreters, not attorneys. This is not legal advice — it is procedure, plus what we have seen in the room.
Where it is
USCIS Queens Field Office
31-00 47th Avenue (the Falchi Building)
Long Island City, NY 11101
The Falchi Building is a large converted warehouse near Queens Plaza — retail and offices at street level, USCIS upstairs. It does not look like a federal building, which is part of why people arrive unsure they are in the right place.
Do not confuse it with the Application Support Center at 22-11 43rd Avenue, about ten minutes away. That is where biometrics are taken. If you turn up there with an interview notice you will be sent away, and if that makes you late, the consequences below are real.
Getting there: Long Island City is well served by the subway and by the LIRR at Hunterspoint Avenue. Build in extra time, because security screening at a federal office is not quick.
Always follow the address and floor printed on your interview notice. USCIS moves interview operations between locations, and this page is a description of what we have seen, not an official listing.
USCIS will not provide your interpreter
Since 13 September 2023, USCIS has not supplied interpreters for affirmative asylum interviews. If you cannot proceed in English, you must bring a competent interpreter, at no expense to USCIS. The only exception is sign language, provided as a disability accommodation — follow the instructions on your notice.
Your interpreter must
- be fluent in English and a language you speak fluently, and
- be at least 18 years old.
Your interpreter cannot be
- your attorney or accredited representative;
- a witness testifying on your behalf;
- a representative or employee of the government of your country of nationality (or of last habitual residence, if stateless); or
- someone with a pending asylum application who has not yet been interviewed.
That last one rules out the friend who filed last year and is still waiting — often the first person an applicant thinks of, because they have been through it and speak the language. They are barred outright.
What happens if you bring the wrong person
If you need an interpreter and do not bring one, or your interpreter is not fluent in English and your language, and you cannot establish good cause, USCIS may treat it as a failure to appear. They may then dismiss your asylum application, or refer it to an immigration judge. Good cause is decided case by case.
There is a second consequence. A cancelled interview counts as an applicant-caused delay, and USCIS states that where such delays are outstanding, they will deny your Form I-765 — your work permit.
The monitor on the line
This is the part we can speak to directly, because we sat through it.
USCIS does not provide your interpreter, but it does put a contract interpreter on the line to monitor the interview by telephone. In the Long Island City interview we worked, the monitor was audible on a device in the room throughout, listening to every exchange.
USCIS describes the monitor’s role as limited to monitoring your interpreter’s interpretation, adding that they may be expected to occasionally interject if your interpreter fails to provide adequate, accurate, and neutral interpretation.
Three words: adequate, accurate, neutral. A family member who loves you is not neutral — and it is audible. It shows up as softening a harsh word, condensing a long answer, adding a clarification the applicant never gave. A professional monitor catches all three immediately.
Separately, the officer has the authority to deny permission for your interpreter to participate at all. Both you and your interpreter are placed under oath before questioning begins.
How long the day actually takes
Set aside the whole day. Not the hour you are picturing.
USCIS says the interview generally lasts at least an hour, and often longer. What that figure leaves out is everything before it. At the Long Island City interview we worked, it was about an hour and a half from arrival until we were finally called in — security screening, then waiting. The interview itself came after that. The same has been true at the Bethpage asylum office.
Security is run like an airport — a screening line, bags through a scanner, pockets emptied. Travel light and allow real time for it.
So the realistic arithmetic is roughly 90 minutes of waiting, plus an hour or more of interview, plus travel at both ends. Three to four hours is a normal day, and it can run longer.
Do not schedule anything after it. Not work, not a school pickup, not another appointment. People who book something for the afternoon end up watching the clock during the most important conversation of their case.
And this is why interpreter pricing works the way it does. You are not paying for an hour of talking. You are booking a professional for a full block of the day — the wait, the interview, and the travel — during which they cannot take other work. When a fee looks high against “one interview,” it is usually being measured against the wrong thing.
What the interview is like
You take an oath to tell the truth; your interpreter takes an oath to interpret accurately and truthfully. The officer confirms your identity, asks biographical questions, then works through the reasons for your claim and anything that might bar it. No decision is given on the day.
The officer understands this means describing painful things. That is precisely why interpretation quality matters — your account enters the record through your interpreter’s words, and a summarised or softened phrase becomes an inconsistency in your file later.
Your information is confidential, subject to the limited exceptions at 8 CFR 208.6.
Bring: passports and identity or travel documents, Form I-94 if you have one, originals of the certificates filed with your Form I-589, a copy of the I-589 and everything submitted with it, any new evidence, certified English translations of anything not in English, your interpreter, and any spouse or children under 21 included as derivatives.
One more change worth knowing: since 18 May 2026, attorneys and accredited representatives may no longer participate remotely in affirmative asylum interviews except in limited circumstances. Your lawyer has to be physically present.
Booking an interpreter for a Long Island City interview
We are Verbatim Interpreting LLC, run by Ozzie Cruz, a NAJIT member interpreting in New York since 1998. We have interpreted an affirmative asylum interview at this location, which means we are not learning the building on your interview day.
We dispatch in more than 40 languages and cover the five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk, New Jersey and Connecticut. Long Island City is a straightforward trip for us.
We interpret to the standard the monitor is listening for: complete, literal, neutral. Everything you say, and only what you say — no summarising, no helping, no smoothing.
- Call (718) 496-9129 or email inquiries@interpret.agency — seven days a week, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
- Give us the language, the date and time on your notice, and the address printed on it.
- Payment in full holds the date. The final fee depends on location, time and case type.
- We confirm in writing and arrive early.
Book an interpreter for your asylum interview →
Most of this work is in Spanish, but we cover more than 40 languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Wolof, Punjabi and Uzbek. See our full asylum interpreting services.
¿Su entrevista de asilo es en Long Island City? Llámenos al (718) 496-9129. Hablamos español.
Where else asylum interviews are held in this region
- New York Asylum Office, Bethpage — 1065 Stewart Avenue. Serves Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley.
- Newark Asylum Office — 100 Mulberry Street, with a Manhattan branch at 201 Varick Street. Serves Manhattan, the Bronx, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
- Queens Field Office, Long Island City — this page.
Common questions
Is there an asylum office in Long Island City?
Not officially. USCIS lists a field office and an Application Support Center there, and names Bethpage and Newark as the asylum offices for this region. But affirmative asylum interviews are conducted at the Queens Field Office — we have interpreted at one. If your notice says Long Island City, follow your notice.
I have a notice for Long Island City but I live in Brooklyn. Is that an error?
Probably not. Follow the address on the notice. If you genuinely think it is wrong, raise it with your attorney or the USCIS Contact Center on 800-375-5283 — do not simply go somewhere else.
Which building do I go to?
The one on your notice. The Queens Field Office is at 31-00 47th Avenue in the Falchi Building. The Application Support Center at 22-11 43rd Avenue is for biometrics only.
Can a friend or relative interpret for me?
If they are 18 or over, fluent in both languages, and not in one of the four barred categories, they are permitted. A USCIS monitor will be listening, the officer can remove them, and interpretation judged inadequate can be treated as a failure to appear.
Does USCIS provide an interpreter over the phone?
Not for spoken languages. The COVID-era rule that allowed that ended on 12 September 2023. The contract interpreter on the line today only monitors your interpreter.
Sources: USCIS — Application Support Center, Long Island City · USCIS — Preparing for Your Affirmative Asylum Interview · USCIS — Affirmative Asylum Applicants Must Provide Interpreters · USCIS — Form G-1256 · 8 CFR 208.9(g), 8 CFR 208.6. Location detail from Verbatim Interpreting’s own assignment at this office. Last checked 18 August 2026.