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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is again extending the effective date (for 180 days), of its temporary final rule which modified certain regulatory requirements to help ensure that USCIS may continue with affirmative asylum adjudications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the temporary final rule first issued by DHS on September 23, 2020, temporarily modified regulations to provide that asylum applicants who cannot proceed with the interview in English are no longer required to provide interpreters at the asylum interview but rather must ordinarily proceed with USCIS-provided telephonic interpreters. DHS first extended this temporary final rule on March 22, 2021 thru September 20, 2021. In light of the continued risk associated with transmissibility of COVID-19, and in particular with the more contagious variants, DHS has determined that further extension of this temporary final rule is warranted to protect asylum applicants and USCIS asylum officers.