Thursday, September 23, 2010

Seattle Immigration Lawyer | Asylum Basics

One way to obtain a green card and eventually to become a naturalized U.S. citizen is to apply for asylum. You can only apply for asylum when you are already in the U.S. or at the border/port of entry. If you are outside the U.S. and outside your home country, you can apply for refugee status—both refugees and asylees must meet the same standards but the process is different—this article will only discuss the steps for an asylee. If you think you may have an asylum claim, you should consult with an immigration lawyer about your specific circumstances.

Qualifications:

To qualify for asylum, you must demonstrate that you are unwilling or unable to return to your home country because of past persecution or a "well-founded fear" of future persecution in your home country based on your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The persecution you experienced or fear must be caused by your government or by a group that your government is unwilling or unable to control.

You will not qualify for asylum if you have assisted in persecution, have been convicted of a “particularly serious crime” (determined case by case, but may include minor crimes), have been involved in terrorist activity or can reasonably be seen as a threat to U.S. security, or have resettled in another country.

Timing:

If you are in the U.S., you may apply for asylum when (1) you are already in removal proceedings (defensively), (2) when you are not in removal proceedings (affirmatively), even if you are out of status in the U.S., or (3) at the border/port of entry. This article will focus on the process for (2), an affirmative asylum application.

Make sure that you file the asylum application within 1 year of your arrival in the U.S. If you file the application after your 1-year anniversary of arriving, you will have to prove “extraordinary circumstances” that prevented you from filing within the one year deadline, or changed circumstances that affected your eligibility for asylum. This is not easy and is in most cases, easily avoided by simply timely filing. (If you are nearing the deadline and do not have time to properly prepare an application, it's best to file a skeleton application and supplement it later, rather than filing late.)

Stay tuned for my next article on the Asylum Application.

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