Courts → San Francisco, CA

Immigration court · San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Immigration Court

According to the DOJ EOIR FOIA release (vintage 2026-08), signature read: a 91.0 pp judge-level grant spread is the widest lottery stamp on San Francisco's bench. Merits volume is heavy-corpus at 49,818 decisions FY2015–2025 (#2 of 77).

Data updated 2026-09-05

72.0%
Asylum grant rate
28.0%
Asylum denial rate
110,651
Pending cases
39 mo
Time to decision

San Francisco in one line

San Francisco's asylum grant rate is 72.0% (upper-third grant rate, above the 48.3% national average) across 49,818 FY2015–2025 merits decisions (heavy-corpus volume).

72.0%
Asylum grant rate · Upper-third grant rate
49,818
Merits decisions · Heavy-corpus volume
+23.7 pp
vs. national average
91.0 pp
Judge-level grant spread · wide
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What this court's record shows

San Francisco Immigration Court sits in the upper third of tracked courts at 72.0% across 49,818 FY2015–2025 merits (23.7 pp above the 48.3% national average). Historical docket context only.

Wide judge lottery: 4.5% to 95.5% (91.0 pp) across 75 reported judges at San Francisco. Case mix and assignment still shape the court aggregate.

Long-wait docket: 110,651 pending and 39 mo average recorded wait. Peer grids below place San Francisco on grant-rate and caseload axes; methodology covers extract limits.

Court outlook score

C-

Court outlook score

54/100

San Francisco, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions

A weighted composite of asylum grant rate, time to decision, and backlog ratio against the full tracked-court corpus. It describes the historical docket, not the odds of any one case, and does not weigh legal representation, case type, or judge assignment.

  • Asylum grant rate A+ 72.0%

    Share of merits decisions granting relief, FY2015-2025

  • Time to decision F 39 mo

    Average recorded months from filing to decision

  • Backlog ratio F 18.8%

    Pending cases as a share of the court's own total caseload

EOIR bench spread roll

Grant-rate neighbourhood for San Francisco

Upper-third grant-rate neighbors for San Francisco (72.0%), with bench-spread stamps for the same-docket judge lottery.

SPREAD 91.0pp WIDE JUDGES 75 WAIT LONG PEND 110,651 GRANT 72.0% RANK #2 of 77
San Francisco72%New York, NY74.7%Honolulu, HI64.1%Chicago, IL61.3%West Valley City, UT59.3%
Asylum grant rate · San Francisco highlighted · DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025

San Francisco Immigration Court vs all courts by asylum merits caseload

Where this court's FY2015–2025 asylum merits-decision count sits among every tracked immigration court (inventory signal, not a quality ranking)

49,818 2nd of 77 higher than 75 of 77 courts

Immigration courts, banded by asylum merits-decision count

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more courts. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source DOJ EOIR asylum merits decisions · FY2015–2025

Where San Francisco sits: Favorable but Slow

Each dot is one of the 40 largest immigration courts by merits decisions, split at the MEDIAN grant rate (47.5%) and median average wait (31.2 months) across this set. San Francisco's own grant rate is 72.0% and its average wait is 39.3 months.

Grant rate vs. average wait time, 40 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). San Francisco highlighted. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 30 entities by Asylum grant rate (X) and Average wait (months) (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Favorable but SlowSlow & ToughFast & FavorableFast but Tough 20%40%60%80% 10mo20mo30mo40mo50mo Asylum grant rate Average wait (months) San Francisco Immigration Court: grant rate vs. average wait among the largest immigration courts
Grant rate vs. average wait time, 40 largest courts by merits decisions (DOJ EOIR FY2015–2025). San Francisco highlighted.

How to read this

  • Fast & Favorable
  • Favorable but Slow
  • Fast but Tough
  • Slow & Tough
Statistical data only. San Francisco's 72.0% upper-third grant history still mixes judges, case types, and counsel rates, not a forecast for a future merits hearing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Granted35858Denied13960
Asylum Outcomes at San Francisco Immigration Court - 49,818 merits decisions, FY2015–2025

Grant rate over time

Upper-third court San Francisco: fiscal-year grant path across FY2015–2025 merits.

Fiscal year Decisions Grant rate
FY2015 982 77.4%
FY2016 1,469 76.3%
FY2017 2,095 77.4%
FY2018 2,686 71.2%
FY2019 5,999 70.9%
FY2020 6,781 57.0%
FY2021 2,935 69.9%
FY2022 6,276 77.2%
FY2023 7,924 80.6%
FY2024 6,091 73.4%
FY2025 6,580 69.6%

The judge lottery at San Francisco Immigration Court

75 judges with enough asylum decisions to report. Grant rates run from 95.5% (1,257 decisions) down to 4.5% (264 decisions) - a 91.0-point spread on the same bench. Rates based on smaller decision counts carry more statistical noise.

Judge names below are the anonymized judge codes EOIR assigns in its public case-data release, not verified public identities. EOIR does not publish immigration judges' full names in this dataset. See our methodology for detail.

# Judge Decisions Asylum grant rate
1 Judge SMLSince FY2019 1,257
95.5%
2 Judge MHFY2015–19 only 387
92.8%
3 Judge CSDSince FY2017 761
92.4%
4 Judge SYKFY2021–22 only 216
92.1%
5 Judge ADGSince FY2020 1,363
91.6%
6 Judge ECBSince FY2022 382
91.6%
7 Judge DLMFY2015–22 only 901
91.3%
8 Judge JLVSince FY2016 230
90.9%
9 Judge KSLFY2023–24 only 75
90.7%
10 Judge ICDSince FY2016 2,711
90.5%
11 Judge LLRFY2015–19 only 547
90.3%
12 Judge RAWSince FY2024 30
90.0%
13 Judge PSS 1,950
89.9%
14 Judge CMNFY2022–23 only 92
89.1%
15 Judge SGNSince FY2019 1,050
88.6%
16 Judge LAGSince FY2018 1,331
88.0%
17 Judge JVJSince FY2017 1,617
87.5%
18 Judge JRWFY2019–20 only 135
87.4%
19 Judge JMPSince FY2019 1,124
86.9%
20 Judge SSGFY2015–18 only 199
86.9%
21 Judge JJSSince FY2023 130
86.2%
22 Judge HRDSince FY2019 654
85.9%
23 Judge RBJFY2016–18 only 379
85.5%
24 Judge CJLFY2015–19 only 298
85.2%
25 Judge ACHFY2015–19 only 187
84.5%
26 Judge ACLFY2019–21 only 787
82.8%
27 Judge PAWFY2015–17 only 258
82.6%
28 Judge CAKFY2015–17 only 284
82.4%
29 Judge JJJFY2016–22 only 532
81.8%
30 Judge JYBSince FY2019 844
81.5%
31 Judge AASSince FY2017 1,628
79.4%
32 Judge EJCFY2023–24 only 52
78.8%
33 Judge CSG 2,016
78.4%
34 Judge CPESince FY2020 103
77.7%
35 Judge LCFFY2019–23 only 772
77.5%
36 Judge MASSince FY2017 642
77.3%
37 Judge KWSSince FY2019 856
76.8%
38 Judge ELYFY2015–24 only 783
76.5%
39 Judge AEDFY2015–24 only 314
76.4%
40 Judge LSGFY2015–24 only 945
75.9%
41 Judge RKPFY2016–21 only 965
75.2%
42 Judge LLMSince FY2019 531
72.9%
43 Judge SMSSince FY2017 1,035
70.1%
44 Judge PRMFY2015–21 only 43
69.8%
45 Judge ISSFY2016–19 only 247
69.6%
46 Judge CFPSince FY2017 514
69.3%
47 Judge JRSFY2021–22 only 294
67.7%
48 Judge LLJFY2022–24 only 551
66.1%
49 Judge DRHFY2015–18 only 188
64.9%
50 Judge SMKSince FY2017 1,563
63.6%
51 Judge JYPSince FY2017 1,239
60.5%
52 Judge SDG 1,382
58.6%
53 Judge CMPFY2018–21 only 638
57.2%
54 Judge PSOSince FY2017 1,627
55.6%
55 Judge RHDSince FY2023 486
54.9%
56 Judge NRFFY2017–21 only 799
53.8%
57 Judge NBWFY2021–23 only 61
52.5%
58 Judge DADFY2019 only 208
51.9%
59 Judge KBLFY2019–21 only 527
50.9%
60 Judge SPNSince FY2019 1,350
50.6%
61 Judge MWNSince FY2019 327
50.2%
62 Judge GSSFY2019–22 only 620
44.8%
63 Judge AJCFY2018–23 only 789
42.2%
64 Judge FASSince FY2018 2,545
40.4%
65 Judge LWPFY2024 only 50
40.0%
66 Judge VABFY2016–19 only 156
38.5%
67 Judge GMTFY2020 only 58
29.3%
68 Judge JLNFY2017–24 only 822
29.2%
69 Judge RRHFY2022–24 only 258
27.9%
70 Judge CPHFY2020–24 only 63
19.0%
71 Judge WDNSince FY2019 39
15.4%
72 Judge VRWFY2015–16 only 25
12.0%
73 Judge NNAFY2019–20 only 242
6.6%
74 Judge SS2FY2016–17 only 47
6.4%
75 Judge ASMFY2015–18 only 264
4.5%

Nationwide courts with similar asylum profiles

Heavy-corpus peers for San Francisco: ABS(grant-rate) and merits-volume matches outside the same state.

Similar grant rate (± asylum merits volume)

Similar merits caseload (± grant rate)

Why judge-level rates vary · Browse every tracked immigration court

Heavy-corpus court San Francisco: 49,818 FY2015–2025 merits in DOJ EOIR FOIA data. Statistical information only, not legal advice.

Read our methodology - how San Francisco's 49,818-decision EOIR court row is sourced, computed, and verified.

DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) FOIA bulk case data for San Francisco Immigration Court; judge grant-rate spread 91.0 pp. PlainImmigration computed grant/denial aggregates FY2015–FY2025; Merits volume is heavy-corpus at 49,818 decisions FY2015–2025 (#2 of 77).

Source: U.S. EOIR, Immigration Court Statistics Immigration court outcomes by court and case type · 2025

Every figure on PlainImmigration is rendered directly from federal immigration court records, no number is typed in by an editor. San Francisco Immigration Court's outcome and grant-rate figures are recomputed live from the EOIR case-level extract on every request, never hand-typed. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-05.