More info on Asylee I-485

Jack Archer

Registered Users (C)
I found this at http://www.ilw.com/wernick/columns/11_18_98.htm

November 18, 1998

Q. I\'m from Nigeria. The INS granted me political asylum in 1997. I intend to apply for adjustment of status. How long until I become a permanent resident? Can the deny my application?

Curious, the Bronx

A. It could take several years before you can become a permanent resident. You can apply one year after the INS granted you asylum. If you apply for adjustment of status now, you\'ll wait seventeen months for an INS interview. After your interview, you\'ll wait another two to three years before the INS makes you a permanent resident. The law provides only 10,000 permanent visas per year for asylees. In recent years, many more than 10,000 asylees have qualified for residence, so a backlog has developed. When the INS finally approved your application, they\'ll backdate the approval one year. Asylee adjustment of status applications usually go smoothly. If you have any doubts, see an expert before filing.
 
AILF-NSC Teletranscript

Found this here:
http://www.elirich.com/jun20b.htm

"Asylum

18. AILA proposes that NSC issue a memorandum to the public on or before October 31 each year announcing the cutoff filing date for those who have received 10,000 fiscal numbers for the fiscal year and providing the number of backlogged asylee applications on file that are awaiting numbers.

ANSWER. The NSC is considering this and is batting around how to do this on a Web site.

19. AILA asks the NSC to consider issuing a notice each year to asylum adjustment applicants whose applications are pending at NSC, advising of the cutoff date and number of backlogged applications awaiting numbers. Quite a few of these applicants are unrepresented, and have no other access to this information even if the INS were to issue notices containing the information.

ANSWER. The NSC will consider this, but this approach is very, very time consuming. Currently, the NSC\'s backlog in this area is growing by approximately 22,000 cases per year.

20. What system does INS have for correcting improper allocations of asylee adjustment numbers (i.e., out of date of filing order)?

ANSWER. The NSC does not have a process and must rely on input/data from district offices regarding whose cases have been approved. The NSC estimates that approximately 21,000 cases are still pending at district offices.

21. For asylum adjustment filings, do the applicants need to include a medical, given that the backlog will take more than a year? If a medical is not required up front, how can it be added to the file in a manner that will not slow down processing when a visa number is available?

ANSWER. No. Please wait until the INS issues a Request for Evidence for a medical examination.

22. If a derivative asylee child files an I-485, but ages out before the visa becomes available, are they eligible for "nunc pro tunc" treatment under the INS Guidelines for Children\'s asylum claims? Is any special procedure required?

ANSWER. See answer to No. 23.

23. Please explain the proper procedure to follow when a minor derivative asylum applicant "ages out". (We understand that the file can be sent by the NSC back to the asylum office for a nunc pro tunc adjudication of asylum for the now-over-21 child.

ANSWER. If the child is under age 21 years at the time of filing but reaches 21 years of age by the time of adjustment adjudication, please send a copy of the I-589 asylum application, completed and signed by the applicant, to the NSC. It is possible to obtain an asylum grant nunc pro tunc from an asylum office. This approach allows the adjustment application (of the apparently aged-out applicant) to continue to remain pending with the NSC."
 
nunc pro tunc

President Bush will shortly sign a new law that I think will make the age-out problem moot for asylees.

That is one piece of good news for us.
 
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