Asylum is a discretionary remedy available to a foreign national who is either present in the United States or trying to enter the United States at a land border or port of entry, and is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country because of a well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

Unless there is an extraordinary change of circumstances, an asylum application must be filed within one year from the foreign national’s entry. Work authorization is unavailable to applicants until asylum status is granted or the application has been pending for more than180 days.

A year after asylum status is granted, an I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status may be filed in order to obtain lawful permanent residence. Unfortunately, considering the tremendous number of backlogged cases, receiving lawful permanent residence takes many years. More than 200,000 cases are currently awaiting a visa number, making the backlog wait-time approximately 7 to 10 years.

The standard for asylum is very high and difficult to prove. We recommend you contact our immigration law attorneys for assistance in preparing the asylum application, gathering evidence, and presenting the asylum claim before the asylum officer or immigration judge.