Eligibility for Asylum or Refugee Status

Asylum and refugee status are special legal protections available to people who have left their home country for their own safety and are afraid to return.

If you want your spouse and children in the U.S. to receive approval of asylum along with you, they can be included in the I-589; but this could also result in the whole family facing deportation.

Asylum applications are decided based on personal facts and evidence, but who gets assigned to your case makes a big difference, too.

If you haven’t yet been stopped by U.S. immigration officials or placed in removal (deportation) proceedings, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the best and worst of what could happen next.

Over the years, both the mix of people applying for asylum (protection from overseas persecution) in the U.S. and the people whose applications are granted has varied a great deal.

How refugees can become eligible for referrals to USRAP, where they can request such referrals, and what alternatives they should consider before choosing this route to the United States.

Crossing the U.S. border without permission or using lies or false documents makes many applicants for immigration benefits inadmissible to the U.S.—what about asylum applicants?

Despite being the world’s largest democracy with over 1.4 billion people, thousands of Indians regularly leave India to seek asylum.

It is extremely difficult to gain asylum from Mexico. Here you will learn the reasons why.

The Safe Third Country Agreement between the U.S. and Canada says that (with some exceptions) you can apply for asylum only in the first country you arrived in.

Many Americans who are concerned about the plight of people fleeing violence or war in other parts of the world wonder whether they can individually sponsor a refugee. Unfortunately the news on this is not good.

Asylum and refugee status are not available to people who are barred for any of various reasons described here.

A person is barred from receiving asylum in the U.S. if an immigration judge or asylum officer finds that they were already firmly resettled or had a right to residence in another country.

Understanding the legal basis for LGBTQ asylum in the U.S.