Home / Asylum interviews / San Francisco

Interpreters for Asylum Interviews at the San Francisco Asylum Office

The San Francisco Asylum Office is at 75 Hawthorne Street, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. It interviews affirmative asylum applicants from Alaska, Oregon, Washington, part of California and part of Nevada. For an affirmative asylum interview you must bring your own interpreter: here is who qualifies, what it costs, and how to book one for this office.

eVerbary sends a professional interpreter to the San Francisco Asylum Office in 129 languages: $144 an hour in person with a two-hour minimum (the base rate plus 20% for legal and immigration settings), with a written quote naming the interpreter and the exact price within minutes, before you pay. If USCIS moves your interview, we move the interpreter at no cost; if the interpreter cannot make it, we send a replacement.

The San Francisco Asylum Office

75 Hawthorne Street, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. It interviews affirmative asylum applicants who live in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, part of California and part of Nevada (Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing, Storey, Wash, White Pine counties). Your interview notice gives the address to go to, and USCIS sometimes schedules interviews at another site, so check it before you book the interpreter.

Not the same place as the USCIS field office in the area (USCIS San Francisco Field Office, 630 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111), where green card and citizenship interviews are held. An interpreter for those: USCIS interviews.

Nor the immigration court (Concord Immigration Court, 1855 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 850, Concord, CA 94520): the court provides its own interpreter for hearings. See immigration court hearings.

You bring the interpreter

For an affirmative asylum interview USCIS does not provide the interpreter: under 8 CFR 208.9(g)(1), an applicant who cannot proceed in English must bring a competent one, fluent in English and in a language the applicant speaks fluently, at no expense to USCIS; USCIS provides one only for deaf or hard-of-hearing applicants. The interpreter must be at least 18 and may not be your attorney or representative, a witness for you, or a representative or employee of your country of nationality.

If you cannot speak English and do not bring a competent interpreter, USCIS says it will cancel and reschedule the interview and treat that as a delay you caused, which can lead to denial of a pending work permit application (USCIS); the I-589 instructions add that it may be treated as an unexcused failure to appear. If your case came through a credible fear screening and is set for an Asylum Merits Interview, USCIS provides the interpreter and you should not be paying one.

Everything about the interview itself, the interpreter's oath and preparing with your attorney: interpreters for asylum interviews.

Booking an interpreter for the San Francisco asylum office

Send the date and time on your notice, the language and the variety (Dari or Farsi, Levantine or Sudanese Arabic, Mam or Spanish), and whether family members on the application will also be questioned. The interpreter meets you at the office before the interview. In person is $144 an hour with a two-hour minimum, billed from the scheduled start; the wait and the interview together usually take a morning, so book at least three to four hours.

A preparation session with your attorney before the interview can be by video, at $96 an hour. Interpreters in San Francisco for anything else: San Francisco, CA.

What an interpreter costs here, worked out

These are the published rates multiplied out, with the 20% for legal and immigration settings: $96 an hour by video or phone, $144 an hour in person, $0.70 a mile of travel with a $35 minimum.

In person with less than 72 hours' notice adds 25%. The quote confirms the interpreter, the exact travel figure and the total before you book; nothing is charged until you confirm.

How the travel charge works out

Travel is charged at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, with a $35 minimum, which means you can work it out rather than wait for a quote: anything up to a 50-mile round trip is $35, a 60-mile round trip is $42, a 150-mile round trip is $105. There is no separate call-out fee on top.

We will not pretend to know in advance where the interpreter will be coming from — that depends on the language, the date and the venue. What we do is confirm the interpreter and the exact travel figure before you book, so it is never a surprise on the invoice. Virtual assignments carry no travel charge at all, which is one reason most of what we do is virtual.

If the date changes, or the interpreter cannot make it

• The agency moves the date: free. If USCIS, the court, the clinic or the school moves your appointment, we move the interpreter to the new date at no cost, however late the change. If we cannot cover the new date, you get a full refund.
• You move the date: free once. You can move the appointment yourself once at no cost, if you tell us at least three days before.
• The interpreter cannot make it: free replacement. If your interpreter cannot make it, we assign a replacement at no extra cost.
• Cancelling. Cancel up to 10 days before for a full refund, or up to 3 days before for 50%. Bookings made less than 7 days before the appointment are not refundable.

The same terms are written into every quote, with the dates worked out for your appointment: see our booking and rescheduling policy.

How booking an interpreter works

• You send the request with the form below: the language, the setting, the format, the date and how long it should last.
• We confirm before you commit: the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one. We reply within minutes, four business hours at most, and no payment is taken at this stage.
• You confirm and pay, and the interpreter is booked for your date. The interpreter's name and credentials are sent to you once the booking is paid.

Request an interpreter

Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will come back with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one — before you commit to anything.

Sources

The office's address and jurisdiction were read on November 13, 2026; the rules on interpreters on the same date. Rules and addresses change; your notice and the source are the authority.

• egov.uscis.gov/office-locator/asyprofile/CA/San%20Francisco/ZSF
• egov.uscis.gov/office-locator/asyresults/WA/Washington
• egov.uscis.gov/office-locator/asy
• justice.gov/eoir/find-immigration-court-and-access-internet-based-hearings
• uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/field-offices
• justice.gov/eoir/concord-immigration-court
• ecfr.gov/current/title-8/section-208.9
• uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum/preparing-for-your-affirmative-asylum-interview
• uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-589instr.pdf

Frequently asked questions

Related services

For firms and institutions

From the blog