Addressing Address Population for U.S. Territories in Form I-589

When completing Form I-589 (Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal), users may encounter an issue where the physical residence address does not automatically populate in Page 1, Part A.I., Item 8 if a U.S. territory is selected in the "Country" field.

While we work on a system update to include these territories in our standard "State" logic, please use the workaround below to ensure your form is completed accurately and without delay.

Currently, the "Residence in the U.S." logic for Item 8 specifically looks for the "United States" country tag. If a territory (such as the U.S. Virgin Islands) is selected as the primary Country, the system treats it as a distinct entity and fails to map the address to the domestic residence field.

Per USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12, Chapter 6, the term "State" for immigration purposes explicitly includes the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

To ensure the address populates correctly in Item 8, you must select "United States" as the country and manually enter the specific territory code in the State field.

Use the following table to identify the correct code for your client's residence:

Complete the rest of the address (Street, City, Zip Code) as usual then save.

By setting the Country to United States, you trigger the "Domestic Residence" logic required for Item 8. Manually entering the territory code (e.g., "VI") ensures that the specific location is correctly printed on the final Form I-589 while maintaining the necessary "United States" classification required by the form's logic.

Note: This is a temporary measure. We are actively updating our "State" dropdown menus to include these territory codes natively to streamline this process in future updates.