I wish I knew the answer - it took over two years for my asylum case to be approved. Mine was affirmative asylum approved by the asylum office. 90s were extremely hard times to be an asylee or an asylum applicant. After my asylum was approved, I had a chance to apply for permanent residency only in 2001 for financial reasons: the process of waiting for the decision on the asylum case was totally devastating financially and otherwise. (When I applied I was not allowed to work for 150 days and then, if the decision on the case was still not made, had to apply for EAD and pay full application fee - over and over and over. No fee waver requests were accepted - I tried to apply and was rejected - that's how I know. Also, I had to wait for months just to receive the actual card) It was a dark, sad, hopeless time. As you, probably, know there was a cap on the asylee adjustment at the time and, according to the INS schedule I could anticipate to be adjusted somewhere around 2010, if I was really lucky (which does not appear to be my case - even my naturalization application is taking way longer than average on this board). That was totally devastating, simply crushing news! I lived in a limbo with no prospects of getting permanent status any time soon and technically was residing in the country temporarily. It affected all aspects of my life: I could not choose the careers I wanted to pursue due to restrictions posed on me by my status and it was not good for my marriage, either: it eventually crumbled. Then I met my current spouse. We got married in 2006 and at about the same time my AOS application was approved due to the changes which happened after Ngwania vs Gonzalez settlement (I was a member of the class covered in it) and REAL ID Act, which lifted the cap on the asylee adjustment. So, my GC is asylum-based. My journey which stretched far into the second decade is still not over...
That's a brief summary of a third of my life.
Last edited by a moderator:
