applied for asylum under F1

allison611

allison611

New Member
Hello Everyone,
I have several questions about my asylum application and my status.
I came to the U.S. on F1 visa and I am currently on OPT (which will expire in the Mid of July this year). During the OPT, I applied for asylum. I already received the receipt for my asylum case but now my interview is still pending. I just got an offer from another school and plan to apply for my I-20 again before my OPT expires. Question: (1) Will my asylum pending case influence my current I-20 application? (2) if my asylum case got rejected in the future and my I-20 is expiring again, can I keep studying and go for another program to renew my I-20? Or just apply for H1B if any employees wants to sponsor me?

I am currently working using OPT-EAD card. I did not apply for Asylum EAD.
 
allison611 said:
Hello Everyone,
I have several questions about my asylum application and my status.
I came to the U.S. on F1 visa and I am currently on OPT (which will expire in the Mid of July this year). During the OPT, I applied for asylum. I already received the receipt for my asylum case but now my interview is still pending. I just got an offer from another school and plan to apply for my I-20 again before my OPT expires. Question: (1) Will my asylum pending case influence my current I-20 application? (2) if my asylum case got rejected in the future and my I-20 is expiring again, can I keep studying and go for another program to renew my I-20? Or just apply for H1B if any employees wants to sponsor me?

I am currently working using OPT-EAD card. I did not apply for Asylum EAD.
Click to expand...
In the eyes of the law....nothing has changed, you are still an F1 student. That is your effective status. Pending asylum case is not a status. As far as the system is concerned, nothing has changed. So you should be able to move forward with your new school with no issues.

If your asylum case is rejected in the future, there is no story, as long as you are still in your F1 status.

If your asylum case is rejected and your F1 status is no longer valid in the future, the Asylum Officer will refer your case to an immigration judge for adjudication: If the judge denies your asylum case, you will be deported back to your home country at that stage, unless you appeal.

You can continue studying, getting new I-20s, with no issues, even after your Asylum case is closed. Good luck.
 
Thank
7of9 said:
In the eyes of the law....nothing has changed, you are still an F1 student. That is your effective status. Pending asylum case is not a status. As far as the system is concerned, nothing has changed. So you should be able to move forward with your new school with no issues.

If your asylum case is rejected in the future, there is no story, as long as you are still in your F1 status.

If your asylum case is rejected and your F1 status is no longer valid in the future, the Asylum Officer will refer your case to an immigration judge for adjudication: If the judge denies your asylum case, you will be deported back to your home country at that stage, unless you appeal.

You can continue studying, getting new I-20s, with no issues, even after your Asylum case is closed. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!!!!!
 
allison611 said:
Hello Everyone,
I have several questions about my asylum application and my status.
I came to the U.S. on F1 visa and I am currently on OPT (which will expire in the Mid of July this year). During the OPT, I applied for asylum. I already received the receipt for my asylum case but now my interview is still pending. I just got an offer from another school and plan to apply for my I-20 again before my OPT expires. Question: (1) Will my asylum pending case influence my current I-20 application? (2) if my asylum case got rejected in the future and my I-20 is expiring again, can I keep studying and go for another program to renew my I-20? Or just apply for H1B if any employees wants to sponsor me?

I am currently working using OPT-EAD card. I did not apply for Asylum EAD.
Click to expand...
Here are my answers:
(1) It depends on the officer who handles your i-20 renewal request... filing for Asylum means you are intending to "immigrate", while I-20 and F-1 should mean that you have a "non-immigrant" intent, and having an intention to immigrate might be a good reason to reject you I-20 or F-1 application. Especially knowing that most universities allow people with pending Asylum applications to enroll in any education level and even get in-state tuition, and you can have EAD through your pending Asylum and work freely without any restrictions. However, that shouldn't keep you away from renewing your I-20, I would do the exact same thing if I were you. Simply because if you are planning to adjust status based on approved i-140 (via H1b) or marriage to a US citizen you have to be "in status", and being "lawfully present" is not enough and it is not the same thing (https://www.islawfirm.com/maintaining-f-1-or-other-nonimmigrant-status-during-asylum-process/). Be careful, this is very important, if you are "out of status" for more than 180 days it is very unlikely that your adjustment of status based on H1b will be approved, even if you are "lawfully present" in the US via your pending asylum case.
(2) If the asylum officer did not approve you asylum case and you are "out of status" then your case will be transferred to a court and you should present your asylum case in front of an immigration judge, and he/she will decide whether to grant you asylum or deny you, thus deport you, and if her rejected your asylum then you can't apply for H1b. But if you are "in status" and the asylum officer did not approve your case then he/she will directly deny your asylum without refereeing it to immigration court. In that case, you will not be deported until your status expires for more than 180 days, and you may file for H1b but you have to be approved before 180 days of your status expiration.

Good luck!
 
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