Applying for Asylum

General Principles about Political Asylum

You may be entitled to political asylum in the United States if you are cannot return to your home country because you have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion OR because you have been a victim of persecution in the past. Here are some important points the law considers...

Well-Founded Fear - Well-founded fear does not mean that you must show that you will certainly be persecuted if you return to your home country, only that there is a reasonable possibility of persecution.

If you cannot prove that you have a well-founded fear of future persecution, you may still succeed if you can show that you have experienced severe persecution in the past.

Time Limitations - You must apply for political asylum within one year of the date you entered the United States, unless you can prove a change in country conditions since your arrival or extraordinary circumstances that prevented you from filing within the one-year deadline.

You may also be able to file after the one-year deadline if Temporary Protective Status is available for people of your home country.

Bars to Receiving Asylum - You may not receive asylum if you have persecuted others; been convicted of a particularly serious crime in the U.S. ; committed a serious, non-political crime in your home country; if you are considered a danger to the security of the U.S.; if you are a terrorist; or if you have been firmly resettled in a third-country

Procedure - You file for political asylum on INS form I-589. A few weeks after your application has been received, you will receive a notice to appear for an interview with an INS asylum officer. Following your interview, a decision will be made to either: grant you asylum, or to issue a Notice of Intent to Deny, or to refer your case to an Immigration Judge

If your case is referred to an Immigration Judge, you will have a second opportunity to explain why you are entitled to asylum. After the trial, the judge will either grant or deny your claim.

If you do not succeed before the Immigration Judge, you still have the right to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

General Pointers - Don’t file for asylum if you have other means to remain legally in the United States. Asylum is hit-or-miss. If you don’t succeed in your asylum claim, you will be subject to deportation proceedings.

Don’t file an asylum application that doesn’t contain enough information to back up your case. Have your facts well-organized. Present all the evidence you have to back-up your claim. Make sure that your application has as many details as possible to help the officer best decide your case.

Don’t exaggerate. Even if the facts in your case would entitle you to asylum, you may ruin your case if you exaggerate past incidents.

Consult with an attorney. Attorneys have the expertise to explain in detail what information you need to back up your asylum claims and the legal issues that have a bearing on your case.

Treatment - If you are a survivor of torture, you may feel the need to see professional help for the mental anquish you have experienced. Here are some names and phone numbers of organizations that may be able to help you.

The Institute for survivors of Torture and Human Rights Abuses, 1438 W. Pratt #1, Chicago, IL 606626 Telephone: (773) 521-0750

Victim Services, 2 Lafayette Street, NY, NY Telephone: (212) 577-7700

Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, Allen S. Keller, MD, Program director, 550 First Avenue, N, NY, 10016 Telephone: (212) 263-8269 e-mail: ask45@aol.com.

You may also want to contact the Center for Victims of Torture, http://www.cvt.org

Convention Against Torture - Even if you cannot succede in proving that you are elegible for asylum, you may still have a claim. Under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), the United States will not deport a person back to their home country if it is more than likely that they the person will be tortured in the country in question. Unlike asylum, there is no need to prove that such torture would take place on account of race, religion, social group, nationality or political opinion in the country of question. Also, unlike asylum, there is no one year dealine for filing a CAT claim. The downside, however, is that production under CAT does not permit you to sdjust your status to that or a legal permanent resident, nor does it permit you to later petition for family members.

Remember, U.S. immigration law is complex. These answers cover general principles. You may need an attorney's expertise to succeed in your case. Consider contacting Jack Herzig, Esq. about your case.

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