Asylum Applications

Asylum is available to individuals seeking protection from persecution in their home country. To qualify, an applicant must demonstrate a “well-founded fear” of persecution based on one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Application Types:

• Affirmative Asylum: This process is for individuals who are not currently in removal (deportation) proceedings. The asylum application is submitted proactively to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) while the applicant is physically present in the United States, regardless of how they entered. If USCIS does not approve the application and the applicant does not have legal status, they are typically referred to immigration court for further proceedings, where they can reapply for asylum defensively.
• Defensive Asylum: This process applies to individuals who are already in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Asylum is requested as a defense against deportation. This can occur when a person is apprehended at the border or inside the U.S. without legal status, or after an affirmative asylum application is denied and referred to immigration court.