At issue in Matter of R-K-K- was the credibility of an asylum applicant whose application bore strikingly similar statements to the statements contained in his brother's asylum application. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) stated that "an Immigration Judge may rely on inter-proceeding similarities as part of an adverse credibility determination," but the BIA must "review such determinations with an especially cautious eye."
The BIA adopted a three-part framework. First, the Immigration Judge (IJ) must give the applicant notice of the similarities that the IN considers significant. Second, the IJ must give the applicant a reasonable opportunity to explain the similarities. Third, the IJ must consider the totality of the circumstances in making a credibility determination.
In the instant case, the IJ was not convinced by the applicant's explanation that he and his brother had used the same transcriber, which the applicant alleged accounted for the similar syntax and spelling errors.
The full text of Matter of R-K-K- can be found here: http://www.justice.gov/eoir/file/768196/download