Abstract: A system and method for asynchronously processing SQL language statements in a database management system. A process assigns a unique database handle to each requested connection between an application program and a database, Each application can be concurrently connected to multiple databases. Databases are alternately activated for synchronous or asynchronous processing using the database handle. Following an asynchronous connection, SQL statements are dispatched for asynchronous processing. The application program dispatches an asynchronous statement, performs other processing and then periodically polls the database system to determine whether the statement has completed processing. SQL statement dispatch for synchronous processing performs like current synchronous SQL language systems by waiting for completion of SQL statement processing before continuing.