Asylum
The Legal Options When It Comes to Asylum
Asylum law concerns the right of asylum, as opposed to refugee law, which concerns huge groups of people fleeing from a country. Most of the time, the seekers for asylum are often considered rebels or dissidents in their own countries and are not physically safe. Therefore, they seek asylum in a friendly country, consistent with their beliefs and values. In return, this country offers them asylum and protection. It is important to note, however, that in some cases these laws do sometimes overlap, as refugees sometimes demand to be treated as asylum cases, or vice versa.
Asylum has general legal stipulations surrounding it, as in any other case, and is usually treated on a case by case basis. However, asylum is different in each nation, and some may be generally stricter than others. In fact, many countries take extremely different viewpoints on what asylum law is, and what it should be which can create confusion. International law also states that a country does not have to surrender the asylum seekers, who are often considered criminals in their home country if they don’t want to. This can make the complicated process even more complex if the two countries are not working together.
The United States immigration laws state that an individual is given one year from the moment of arrival in the US to request an asylum. Even so, what are the possible choices offered to you if you fail to satisfy the 1-year time frame?
The Kind of Relief That Can be Sought by an Asylum Applicant
A person who would like to apply for an asylum is exempted from this twelve-month deadline requirement when the following conditions are fulfilled.
Changed circumstances that basically affect your suitability for asylum in the United States. Examples of conditions which can impact your eligibility for asylum in the United States include alterations to the United States immigration laws and conditions in your land of origin.
Extraordinary cases that may lead you to be late in submitting an application for asylum in the US within the first year. Conditions which are not within your control are taken under consideration.
If circumstances such as these directly influence your failure to sign up for asylum within twelve months of your coming, United States immigration law provides certain exclusions.
What if you didn’t conform to the one-year period of applying for asylum but haven’t been impacted by the mentioned special instances, would you still be allowed to request an asylum?
Then again, there are a number of other kinds of relief which you could submit an application for, such as, Convention Against Torture and also Withholding of Removal.
Withholding of Removal
When trying to get this type of relief, you need to demonstrate beyond doubt that you will be confronted with persecution on going back to your native land. In this instance, the requirement in making an application for asylum is distinct from that having a typical circumstance. In normal asylum request, you just need to show to the judge that there’s “reasonable likelihood” of persecution.
Convention Against Torture
In this case, an applicant would need to prove that he will be tortured when he returns to his country. Fortunately, there is a process to submit an application for this form of deportation relief although you may have requested other forms of relief which was denied. While you are applying you must be able to prove that you belong to a group that was persecuted. In some cases, you can prove that there is a certain behavior in such a country which gears towards persecuting the residents based on their membership in political option on social group, nationality, religion, and race.
Unless you know all the provisions in United States immigration law, it will be difficult for you to submit an application for the correct form of relief. It is highly advisable to hire an attorney that is well versed in immigration and deportation law as a result. Deportation attorneys are professionals who are educated in the diverse aspects of immigration law and so will enable you to successfully submit an application for asylum though you may have overlooked the 1-year due date.
Certainly, there are different types of relief which an individual can make an application for should he fall short to apply for asylum in the first 12 months from arrival in the USA however it is significant to take note the complexity that goes with these areas of law. It is, therefore, recommended to have an immigration attorney to talk to if you’re contemplating asylum relief. Having practical experience and competence in deportation laws, an immigration and deportation attorney could advise you the very best way of applying for asylum relief.
Conditions that you must fulfill in order to apply for the asylum status
- You must already be in the US or you can try to request this status while you are at the border of the US. To start with you must look for an experienced immigration lawyer or asylum lawyer to assist you in this process. After you have lived in the US for around one year and you have been granted asylum, you can then try to ask the immigration lawyer to assist you in applying for a green card.
- Secondly for you to qualify for asylum you must be found to be an eligible refugee. In the US the refugees are considered to be individuals who have left their countries are not willing to return to their home countries due to social, economic and political challenges. If you prove to be one the US immigration agency can consider enrolling you.
- You will be required to complete the USCIS form which is the application for asylum and for withholding and removal. You will not pay any fee in your application and you will expect the processing to take about 180 days from the time that you have applied.
- In case you are applying for asylum with the USCIS, then you must send the application the service center of USCIS which has jurisdiction associated with your place of residence.
If you are seeking asylum in the US or feel that you may qualify for asylum, it is best to talk to an immigration lawyer so he can tell you exactly what you need to look out for when dealing with this complicated area of international law. In case you are confused on which direction to take then consulting with an immigration attorney will be of great importance to as you embark on this process.
