Disclaimer: We are not a law firm or affiliated with any government agency. We’re a privately owned business that provides Immigration, Tax, Court and Notary services. We are not a licensed attorney and by law cannot provide legal advice. We can listen to your concerns and refer you to a list of attorneys who may be able to assist you. All our prices doesn’t include government filing fees. Most matters concerning immigration have specific processing times based on the type of petition filed. Unfortunately, those times are procedural in nature, therefore processing times cannot be changed
Asylum Petition
Every year people come to the United States seeking protection because they have suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution due to:
- Race
- Religion
- Nationality
- Membership in a particular social group
- Political opinion
You may only file this application if you are physically present in the United States, and you are not a U.S. citizen.
If you are eligible for asylum you may be permitted to remain in the United States. To apply for asylum affirmatively or defensively, file a Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, within 1 year of your arrival to the United States. Visit our Obtaining Asylum in the United States page for more information on affirmative and defensive filings. There is no fee to apply for asylum.
You may include your spouse and children who are in the United States on your affirmative or defensive asylum application at the time you file or at any time until a final decision is made on your case. To include your child on your application, the child must be under 21 and unmarried. For more information see our Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal page.
If you were placed in expedited removal proceedings, you received a positive credible fear determination, and USCIS retained your asylum application for further consideration in an Asylum Merits Interview, please visit our Asylum Merits Interview with USCIS: Processing After a Positive Credible Fear Determination page.
If you have an asylum application pending with us, you can check the status of your case at Case Status Online. You will need the receipt number that we provided you after you filed your application.
You may apply for asylum if you are at a port of entry or in the United States. You may apply for asylum regardless of your immigration status and within 1 year of your arrival to the United States.
You will not be eligible to apply for asylum if you:
Filed your application after being in the United States for more than 1 year. However, you may qualify for an exception if you show
- Changed circumstances materially affecting your asylum eligibility for asylum or
- Extraordinary circumstances relating to your delay in filing.
You must still file your application within a reasonable time under the circumstances to be eligible for an exception.
Changed circumstances may include but are not limited to:
- Changes in conditions in your country of nationality or, if you are stateless, your country of last habitual residence
- Changes in your circumstances that materially affect your eligibility for asylum, including changes in applicable U.S. law and activities you become involved in outside the country of feared persecution that place you at risk
- If you were previously included as a dependent in someone else’s pending asylum application, the loss of the spousal or parent-child relationship to the principal applicant through marriage, divorce, death, or attainment of age 21
Extraordinary circumstances may include but are not limited to:
- Serious illness or mental or physical disability, including any effects of persecution or violent harm suffered in the past, during the 1-year period after your arrival in the U.S.
- Legal disability, such as your status as an unaccompanied child or you suffered from a mental impairment, during the 1-year period after your arrival in the U.S.
Ineffective assistance of counsel, if:
- You file an affidavit explaining in detail the agreement that you had with your lawyer about the actions to be taken by your lawyer on your behalf and what your lawyer told you he or she would do for you
- You have informed the lawyer whom you are criticizing of the accusations against him or her and the lawyer has been given an opportunity to respond
- You indicate whether you have filed a complaint with appropriate disciplinary authorities about any violation of your lawyer’s ethical or legal responsibilities, and if not, why not
- You had Temporary Protected Status (TPS), lawful immigrant or nonimmigrant status, or you were given parole, until a reasonable period before you filed your asylum application
- You filed an asylum application before the expiration of the 1-year deadline, but USCIS rejected your application as not properly filed, returned the application to you for corrections, and you re-filed your application within a reasonable time after the return
- The death or serious illness or incapacity of your legal representative or a member of your immediate family
For a list of circumstances that may be considered changed or extraordinary circumstances, see 8 CFR 208.4 and the Asylum Bars page.
You will be barred from applying for asylum if you previously applied for asylum and were denied by the Immigration Judge or Board of Immigration Appeals, unless you demonstrate that there are changed circumstances which affect your eligibility for asylum.
You will also be barred if you could be removed to a safe third country to a two-party or multi-party agreement. Currently, the United States has a safe third country agreement with Canada that does not apply to you if you are applying for asylum affirmatively with USCIS. The Agreement only applies in Credible Fear Screenings. For more information about the safe third country agreement with Canada, see the Questions & Answers: Credible Fear Screenings page. For more information about bars to applying, see the Asylum Bars page.
Yes. You may apply for asylum with USCIS regardless of your immigration status if:
- You are not currently in removal proceedings
- You file an asylum application within 1 year of arriving to the United States or demonstrate that you are within an exception to that rule.
Yes, but you may be barred from being granted asylum depending on the crime. You must disclose any criminal history on your Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, and at your asylum interview. If you do not disclose such information, your asylum claim will be referred to the immigration court and may result in fines or imprisonment for committing perjury. For more information on bars to receiving asylum, see the Asylum Bars page.
Widows or widowers who were married to U.S. citizens at the time of the citizen’s death may apply for a Green Card.
Until Oct. 28, 2009, you had to have been married to the deceased citizen for at least two years at the time of the deceased citizen’s death, in order to immigrate as the widow(er) of a citizen. Congress removed this requirement, effective Oct. 28, 2009.
To immigrate as the widow(er) of a citizen, you must prove that you were legally married to the citizen, and that you entered the marriage in good faith, and not solely to obtain an immigration benefit.
What We Will Do For You
Our highly professional staff will work closely with you to obtain the information needed to accurately complete your immigration documents. Our immigration service simplifies the process of filing out U.S. immigration application helping to reduce errors that can cause rejection. You can file USCIS forms yourself but failure rate is extremely high. The USCIS rejects millions of forms yearly and can even create long-term immigration problems.
