The one-year deadline
An asylum application must generally be filed within one year of your last arrival in the United States. There are exceptions for changed circumstances that materially affect eligibility and for extraordinary circumstances that explain the delay, but they must be argued and evidenced — they are not assumed.
If you are approaching a year, or past it, that is the first thing to tell us.
What a claim has to establish
You must show past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
The words "on account of" carry most of the weight. Terrible things happening to you is not, by itself, asylum; the question is why they happened, and whether your government is behind it or unable or unwilling to control those who are.
- Credibility — consistent testimony against your own filings, interviews and records.
- Corroboration — documents, medical and police records, witness statements where they can reasonably be obtained.
- Country conditions — expert and documentary evidence that puts your account in context.
Affirmative and defensive claims
If you are not in removal proceedings, you file affirmatively with USCIS and are interviewed by an asylum officer. If you are in proceedings, the claim is heard defensively by an immigration judge, and it is litigated — with a government lawyer on the other side.
The two run very differently, and a claim that was prepared for an interview is not automatically ready for a hearing.
Related protection
Where asylum is barred — by the deadline, by a criminal ground, or otherwise — withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture may still be available. They are harder to win and give less, but they can stop a removal.
Asylum applicants may become eligible to apply for employment authorisation while the application is pending, after a waiting period set by regulation.
Questions we are asked about this
Can I work while my asylum case is pending?
Usually yes, after a waiting period set by regulation that runs from the filing of a complete application. Delays that you cause can stop that clock, which is one reason applications should be complete when they are filed.
Can my family be included?
A spouse and unmarried children under 21 who are in the United States can generally be included on your application. Relatives abroad may be able to follow once asylum is granted.
I missed the one-year deadline. Is it over?
Not necessarily. Exceptions exist for changed and extraordinary circumstances, and other forms of protection are not subject to the deadline at all. Bring us the dates and we will tell you where you stand.