Am I eligible to apply for Asylum after staying in the U.S. longer than 1 year?

eizo

Registered Users (C)
I came to the States in Dec 2006 with a F1 visa, hesitate to apply for Asylum since I wasn't sure what to do. Now I want to do it, can I still apply? I heard it's not possible after 1 year.

Thanks.
 
even your case is a strong case,they probably deny your case because you have been here more than a year
 
I mean, will it be REALLY difficult because of the "overstay"? What are my chances? Thanks.
 
If you have kept valid status then you have a reasonable chance of having the one year rule excused for you. hire a lawyer.
 
Yeah, thanks, I have legal status as F1. As for getting a lawyer, what benefit can s/he give? How much is needed?

How should I start? Contact a lawyer first then blah blah?

Thanks again.
 
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I applied for asylum back in 2005 when I was in deportation proceedings in immigration court. I came to this country back in 1995. I was out of status since 1997. Can you apply for asylum after one year of stay? Yes you can. You will have to prove that you have a worthy claim for asylum. Since you are applying after one year, you will have to prove that you country of persecution conditions have deteriorated which affects you. Gather as much affidavits that you can. Newspaper clippings help alot as well as the Department of State human rights report.

Hope this helps.
 
I think if you apply after more than a year your case will be most definetely denied by the IO during the initial inteview, but there is a chance that IJ can grant it.
 
after 1 year time limit

I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENNCE AND OPINION!

I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENNCE AND OPINION!

I have entered US on tourist visa in Nov 2005. I submitted my asylum application in Oct 2007. As you can see i stayed well over my 1 year time limit.
But my case was approved by immigration officer (not by judge which is the second proceeding) in March 2008.
It is important that you have a convincing case explaining why you waited so long to apply for asylum. simple "i didn't know about it" or "i was afraid i might get deported" will not help. It has to be "due to extraordinary circumstances". If you look at the exceptions for 1 year time limit rule, you will see that they ask you to prove that you had an "extraordinary circumstances, beyond your control situation". it can be illness, mental disability (it helps to have a statement prepared by social worker or psychologist mentioning that you were in depression and/or that you were in some kind of mental collapse due to tragic/unfortunate/traumatizing event etc) and or family tragedy et cetera. and remember these are all on top of what you say about persecution in your country. It is important to see a good lawyer (they cost around 6000, 7000usd) and tell your story. good lawyers will tell you whether they think you should go a head and do it or not.
It is important that you have confidence in yourself. Your performance for the interview with immigration officer is crucial. If you speak very good english (or have a good translator) and explain your situation (it has to be serious situation that you avoided/escaped from your country of origin where you feared for your life and safety) it will compensate your other weaknesses such as apply after 1 year time limit.
Remember that immigration officer is just regular person with alot of experience in hearing people with different stories and (sometimes lies, they can tell very easily) different backgrounds. But they are still human!
Strength of your case will largely depend on how you tell your story to the Officer/judge. If you are from a country where persecution is well known you have a great advantage. If not you can still gather some evidence, statement by some people who are familiar with the situation (lawyer should help you with this) which will help. but again most important thing is how u tell your story.

so as you can see all hope is not lost! But you should evaluate the whole process real careful.


I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS JUST MY PERSONAL EXPERIENNCE AND OPINION.
 
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I came to the States in Dec 2006 with a F1 visa, hesitate to apply for Asylum since I wasn't sure what to do. Now I want to do it, can I still apply? I heard it's not possible after 1 year.

Thanks.

As long as you are not out of status, you are fine. I was in the same boat as you are now. I had last entered the country (legally) for over a year and then applied for asylum. The one year rule did NOT apply and the IO interviewing me did not even bring it up. Is your I-94 valid for 4 years?? If so, you should be fine. If it IS valid for four years from Dec 2006, if you do apply now and somehow the case gets rejected, you will be allowed to stay until your status expires.
 
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