ELIGIBILITY FOR ASYLUM

POLITICAL OPINION

Political opinion can refer to any belief that a person may have in a society–usually a controversial belief within a given society, and it doesn’t have to be in relation to any political party. A common example is a belief in women’s rights or education, or a belief that gay people should have freedoms that certain societies do not provide them. Political opinion also can encompass a person’s association with groups such as labor unions or student’s rights organizations, no matter the person’s level of involvement with these organizations. Believe it or not, choosing to remain neutral can also be a political opinion. If you were harmed or persecuted on the basis of a political opinion that you hold, or that the persecutor believed you to have held (called an imputed political opinion), then you may have a claim to asylum in the United States.  Read More

LGBT INDIVIDUALS

A person’s sexual orientation is an important part of who they are and something they cannot change. If you are an LGBT individual and the government of your home country has laws and practices that discriminate against LGBT people (for example it is illegal to be gay), or if you have been harmed directly because of your sexual orientation because the government does not protect LGBT people, then you likely have a claim to asylum in the United States. Read More

HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS

Where a person has faced persecution in the past, but circumstances have changed so that there is little likelihood that the person will face present or future persecution if they are sent back to their home country (say because the government that had persecuted them is no longer in power), then the authorities may deny the applicant asylum. However, it is possible when applying for humanitarian asylum, that the applicant could still get asylum even without the real threat of persecution. This will be a discretionary decision on the part of the judge and will depend on several factors, such as: the severity of the past persecution, the applicant’s family ties and immigration history, criminal and health records, and length of residence of the applicant in the U.S. If you have faced severe persecution in your home country but conditions have changed favorably since you were last there, do not hesitate to contact us. You may still be able to obtain asylum here in the United States. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(1)(iii)(B) (2011). Read More

NATIONAL ORIGIN AND ETHNIC GROUPS

National origin as a basis for asylum is explicitly laid out in U.S. Immigration Law. It is closely related to claiming asylum on the basis of ethnic groups, but it is a distinct category. Nationality is concerned with a group of people’s shared political history or aspirations and nationalities tend to be associated with certain geographical areas or independent states. Ethnic groups, on the other hand, are social groups that are identified by others based on having a shared cultural history–particularly shared linguistic history. These concepts in practice often overlap, but they are technically distinct. Ethnic groups tend to cross state and political boundaries where nationality would not. Persecution based on a person’s ethnic group is also a basis to seek asylum and has been recognized in case law. Ethnicity is often publicly seen to overlap with race (another basis for asylum), but it is distinct from race. Racial categories tend to be broader than ethnic categories and often encompass multiple ethnic groups at the same time. If you have been harmed because of your nationality or your ethnic group, or if you fear future harm based on one of these categories, do not hesitate to contact us as you may have a valid claim to protection under U.S. asylum law. Read More