Eligibility for Asylum

[Jameel]

I have a question. I am considering applying for asylum for my wife. She has been persecuted in her home country by the same people/groups that has persecuted me in the past. Her reason for persecution was that she is my wife (we married 2 years after I was granted asylum but were engaged when I left my home country). Her persecution is well documented. Now, the question is: Can this be a basis for asylum since she was persecuted for being my spouse and did not belong to any social/political group herself. How strong a case does this sound?
I went through the link Jack sent me and it does not include such a case in the list of "ineligible" candiates. The lawyer we are thinking of hiring to represent my wife also mentioned derivative asylum but I explained to him that most probably that is not an option for us since we were not married at the time I was granted asylum. He said that she has to have her birth certificate when she applies for asylum. Why is that? I did not have/submit my birth certificate when I applied. I did submit it when I filed my i-485.
We would really appreciate your valuable advice reagarding this.

Thanks,
Jameel

 

[Tim Zheng]

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I hope you\'ll get some advices from some gurus here. But I think it might be difficult because you didn\'t venture any specifics of your wife\'s case. In my opinion a good lawyer is very valuable when applying for asylum.

I just have one suggestion. If your wife is not eligible for asylum because that she doesn\'t belong to one of the categories. She can consider "withhold of removal" because of torture. That way she can stay here and later on you can sponsor her.

 

[Jack Archer]

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Jameel,

 I recall you onced answered to me that your wife is from the same country as you are. In my humble opinion she has better chance of getting asylum than someone who is filing for him/herself. Just be ready to prove to the INS that people from your homecountry who are married to asylees face persecution when they return home. I\'m talking about Amnesty International, HR watch, Newsweek, CNN media reports etc.

 

[Jack Archer]

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Jameel,

 I recall you onced answered to me that your wife is from the same country as you are. In my humble opinion she has better chance of getting asylum than someone who is filing for him/herself. The fact that she is married to an asylee slightly increases her chances of gaining asylum. Just be ready to prove to the INS that people from your homecountry who are married to asylees face persecution when they return home. I\'m talking about Amnesty International, HR watch, Newsweek, CNN media reports etc.

 

[Jameel]

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Thanks a lot for your advice Jack. It always feels good to get advice from knowledgeable people like yourself, Alanpero, Gilbert and the other people on this forum.

One more question. Is it preferable to file the petition for asylum while a person is in status (I am aware of the 1 year limitation). My wife\'s visa might expire some time soon and I was asking her lawyer to make efforts to file before that date. He said that that would not really matter since she would still be in the 1 year period. Actually, he is busy with some other stuff and would prefer to have some more time before he is ready to file my wife\'s petition. Should I insist that we get it done before her visa expires...file a bare bone petition right now and supplement it with documents later. (we are still waiting for some documents from our home country which we should have within 15 days).
Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks for your help,
Jameel

 

[Gilbert]

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File the application as soon as possible. Would a delay strengthen her application in any way? I guess not.

Get it over with in order to fully live the American Dream.

 

[Tim Zheng]

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It\'s always better to file before one is out of status. It might not matter but you never know what will happen later on.

On the other hand it\'s worthwhile waiting if the documents you\'re waiting for are critical to the case. My lawyer withheld my case for more than one month until she got an evaluation from my psychological counselor.

In my opinion you should wait for the documents to arrive as long as you\'re not going out of status. You can always bring extra documents for the interview if you can\'t get them in time. But remember you might have the interview within 2 weeks of your filing.