Being a victim of persecution from your own country or having a well-founded fear of being persecuted if you return to that country gives you a right to seek asylum in the United States. A liberal democracy treasures the right to asylum. However, you have to consider a complete list of more stringent criteria than you might expect.
It is best to have the supervision of an immigration lawyer familiar with the legal grounds for asylum to extensively prepare you for the entire processing and guarantee your eligibility for an asylum application.
Who deserves this kind of protection? What are the changes in today’s asylum application? Let us briefly answer these questions by contemplating who deserves asylum in the United States.
Know your facts.
According to the recent Annual Flow Report, the top countries around the globe whose citizens received successful asylum status in the U.S. includes (from most to least):
- Venezuela
- China (PRC)
- Egypt
- Turkey
- Russia
Who is eligible?
To establish eligibility for asylum status, you must prove that you meet the definition of a refugee under U.S. immigration law. It should show that you are a victim of past persecution or have a well-founded fear of future persecution based on acceptable grounds, such as race, caste, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, sexual violence/ orientation, civil war, or political opinion.
The concept of a well-founded fear is broad. You will need to present both subjective and objective reasonable fear.
- Subjective fear means that you, personally, do fear returning to your country of origin.
- Objective fear means that you can demonstrate facts based on objective sources of evidence or witnesses’ testimonies.
It is always best to consult an immigration lawyer from the Law Office of Mohaimina Haque, PLLC, or a similarly reputed firm in matters of asylum as soon as possible as there is a one-year deadline on applying after you’ve entered the United States.
Asylum Application Today.
Admissions for asylum processing fell dramatically under former President Donal Trump’s administration due to more complex procedures and reduced quotas annually.
However, today’s President Joe Biden has pledged to reverse this trend by accepting more refugees for resettlement, granting an easier process to attain humanitarian protection to asylum seekers, and accelerating the pace of adjudications. In 2019, the United States granted asylum status to about 46,500 individuals, recorded to be the highest level in decades.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a slow pace of reviving the resettlement system. Consult your immigration lawyer for advice on how to cope up with the current changes.
Conclusion
It is worth remembering that every person’s claim for asylum is unique. There is no constant and fixed application process and eligibility criteria to follow. Each aspiring individual must present a convincing claim showing that they were the victims of persecution or fear future persecution.
A knowledgeable immigration lawyer who understands how to prepare properly, file, plan, and presents an asylum claim significantly increases your chances of being granted asylum status by the U.S. government.