A person who is not a United States citizen may be eligible for political asylum if he or she can demonstrate a credible, well-founded fear of persecution in his or her home country on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
You must already be present in the United States when you apply for asylum, and you must apply for asylum within one (1) year of your arrival in the United States, unless you can show that changed and/or extraordinary circumstances prevented you from doing so, and that you applied for asylum within a reasonable amount of time with respect to those circumstances.
Common Political Asylum Factors
Although the circumstances and processes surrounding an application for asylum may vary from case to case, there are a number of factors that are common in most political asylum cases:
- You are already present in the United States.
- You have a credible fear of persecution or torture if you were to be returned to your home country.
- Any potential persecution that you would suffer if you returned to your home country is on account of your race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
- You have not engaged in terrorist activities or persecution of others.
- You have not been convicted of any serious crimes.
- You were not firmly resettled in another country before arriving in the United States.
- There are no reasonable grounds to believe that you would be a threat to national security.
Process of Getting Asylum
The process of getting asylum begins when you file Form I-589 – Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal with U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). You are permitted to remain in the United States while you are seeking asylum. You can file for asylum either affirmatively, or on your own initiative, or defensively, in response to removal proceedings. If you apply for asylum affirmatively, you will undergo fingerprinting and background checks, and then have an interview with an Asylum Officer who will determine whether you are eligible for asylum.
If you apply for asylum defensively, however, you will be subject to an adversarial hearing before an Immigration Judge at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR”). All of these decisions regarding your eligibility for asylum may be further reviewed on appeal through the federal appellate court system.
Since you will face removal from the United States if you are found to be ineligible for asylum, the consequences of an unsuccessful asylum petition are quite severe. As the process for obtaining asylum can be complex, and eligibility standards for asylum are high, you should contact an experienced immigration lawyer for assistance in seeking asylum.
In particular, when you have filed a petition for asylum defensively, in the context of adversarial removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge, an immigration lawyer will be able to assist you in presenting sufficient evidence in support of your asylum petition, and maximizing your chances of success with your claim for asylum.
