Political Asylum & Citizenship

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If you read the law for asylee (Section 208 of the INA ) you will found you can apply citizen after four years instead of five.
 
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To my understanding it is 3 months minus 5 years (4yr 9 mnths). It\'s 3 years for people with special conditions ( like being married to a U.S military Serviceman..blah blah). But if you are an asylee or employment based GC I think it\'s 5 years (or 4yr 9mnths).

 That\'s just the time it take to wait before you can apply. What about the processing time etc?
 
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I just read Section 208 of the INA found at:
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/lawbooks.nfo/query=[jump!3A!27act208!27]/doc/{@1313}/hits_only?

It desribes in details of the Asylum filing procedure, but there\'s no mentioning of the Naturalization procedure. Section 209 is about Refugee Adjustment of Status (Refugee is not the same as Asylee).

Can you be more specific with whre you found that? Perhaps posting a quote would be useful.

Thanks
 
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Jose,

 It\'s so true. Once a refugee/asylee leaves the U.S he/she is no longer protected by the U.S laws.And refugee/asylee may certainly not want to go home with the RTD because if authorities in the home country do not give you trouble the USINS will question if you still deserves your asylee status.
 
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Former President Clinton should have given a little more thought before signing the LIFE Act.

 The INS is already understaffed and its officers overworked. And there are enough legal immigrants patiently waiting for their GC and naturalization cases. Now with these newly legalized immigrants added to the already overloaded bureacratic system we can expect longer processing times etc.
  The LIFE Act also makes a mockery of the leagal immigration system and border control efforts.
 
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Hi Alanpero

I just had one quick question. I applied I-484 as asylee in November 1999. My notice says Received Nov. 1999, notice date December 1999.

Can you tell me which will matter for the approval? I mean will it be Receipt-date or the notice-date? As you know as per NSC its June 1999 and I am hopeful for October 2001 when visa are open that I will get thou. So could you or any other person advice?
 
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Hi Rajarani, Don\'t trust that date of June 1999. It seems to be an error. If you check latest NSC report as of April 30 (http://www.ilw.com), they have moved that date back to 6/2/98, as they were reporting before. They are still processing applications filed at local INS offices (read message 5.2.1 in this portal). There is no country limits in the 10000 visa quota.
You filed in November 1999, which means FY 2000. I do not expect those applications to be processed before FY 2003. Most likely you will be called for FP between October and December 2003, or at the best a year before. Since you filed in the second month of FY 2000, I believe there is a slight chance for you to be called between October and December 2002, but better not to feed false expectations.
I regret this information is not favorable, but this is my best estimate based on statistics reported by INS on number of asylees approvals, etc. See message 5.2.1.1.1 and following. I wish I were wrong, it would be of benefit for all of us. Good luck, and please let us know if you receive news from INS before. It will help to better track INS processing procedure for this type of cases.
 
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Rajarani, per regulations is the filing date what counts. For our case, I understand the filing date is the receipt date.
 
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Jack, the naturalization residency requirement is 5 years; however, I found this in the INS annual report Asylees FY 1997, on page 4: "One year of the asylee\'s residence prior to adjustment is counted toward the naturalization residency requirement" So, after all it seems that we have to wait 4 yeras only. At last a good new for us!!.
 
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Jose Carrera,
First of all, my message was not addressed to you. I just responded to a question someone asked to me. If you don\'t believe what I am saying, that\'s fine.
As for ilw, albeit it is a lawyer\'s site, take into account they are posting a report from INS NSC. So, everything else you said is not relevant.
1)As for naturalization, I clearly explained where I found the reference. It seems you didn\'t read my message. It is an official INS report.
2)You have misunderstood the issue about visas for asylee.
Don\'t understand what you are trying to say at the end, your english writing is poor. Better not to address any more messages to me, because I won\'t respond.
 
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Jack, I just found this:
TITLE 8 OF CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (8 CFR)
8 CFR: SUBCHAPTER B -- IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS
8 CFR PART 209 -- ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF REFUGEES AND ALIENS GRANTED ASYLUM
Sec. 209.2 Adjustment of status of alien granted asylum.
 
 
(f) Decision. The applicant shall be notified of the decision, and if the application is denied, of the reasons for denial. No appeal shall lie from the denial of an application by the director but such denial will be without prejudice to the alien\'s right to renew the application in proceedings under part 240 of this chapter. If the application is approved, the director shall record the alien\'s admission for lawful permanent residence as of the date one year before the date of the approval of the application, but not earlier than the date of the approval for asylum in the case of an applicant approved under paragraph (a)(2) of this section. (Amended effective 7/6/98; 63 FR 30105 )

Note that the allien\'s admission for PR is recorded one year before the date of the approval of the application
 
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Thank buddy Alanpero. You were right about the date. As per their recent processing time, they have switched back to June 1998. However I didn\'t understand about yout FY2000 concept. Whats is all about? Could you please explain.

Also if I get travel document, would my processing for the adjustment be affected or not? If so then ther is no use of getting this document. I don\'t want my adjustment to be late. Is there anyone from INDIA who has been granted asylum and applied for the ajustment? if yes please reply me.
 
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Hi Rajarani,
INS works according to Fiscal Year (FY) which is different from the calendar year. FY starts on October 1st and ends on September 30 the following year. For example, FY 2001 started on October 1st 2000 and will end on September 30 2001. And on next October 1st, FY 2002 will start. If you filed your I-485 in November 1999, I bet your receipt number starts with LIN-00-xxx-5yyyy. The "00" denotes the FY. The xxx digits denote the number of working days between October 1st and the date of your application. If you filed in November 1999, I bet those xxx digits must be a number in between 020 and 050. The last five digits denotes the application number and starts in 50000. So, even though you filed in the calendar year 1999, your application was filed in the Fiscal Year 2000, and you are among the very first people filing in that FY.
INS has already allocated the 10000 visas for FY 2001, so they are not legally allowed to issue more GC until October this year. This is why I believe there won\'t be any movement before October.
I do not see why getting RTD should affect the processing of your application. Y have traveled abroad with RTD several times and have had no problems. See other messages posted.
 
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Hi Rajarani, Sorry I don\'t know what those codes mean, but apparently they are simply a codification for the asylee and relatives that got derivative asylum status. As per that paragraph, what they mean is that since for asylees the date of admission for PR is a year earlier than the actual date of I-485 approval; that date cannot be earlier than the date asylum was originally granted. Let\'s take an example: asylum granted in Nov 1999, then you filed I-485 9 months after (one year minus 3 months) in August 2000. Then, a miracle happens and your I-485 was approved in September 2000. Then, as per regulations your date of admission for PR should be a year earlier, thus, September 1999 (5 years time residency should start counting that date). But because date of admission for PR (September 1999) is earlier than the date your asylum was granted (november 1999), the paragraph you posted, applies and the date of admission for PR will be moved to November 1999.
Regarding my recent message 12.2.1.1, I just realized that your RD is November but your ND is December. The xxx digits I mentioned, are the number of WORKING DAYS between October 1st and the RD. So, for your case, I believe the xxx digits must be a number in between 040 and 070, instead of in between 020 and 050.
 
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Thanks Alanpero for your reply to my message. Have you ever travelled to Canada on RTD? If yes, what you need to take with you to travel there and what type questions they ask when you come back? Can you travel to UK on RTD? Please advice?
 
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Hi Rajarani, Check in board "Refugee Travel Document" message 2.1.1.1.1 and following. Someone asked me the same question before. Technically you only need your RTD, but I took with me anything that could help to avoid problems to re-enter the US, like EAD, copies of asylum approval letter and I-485 application, national passport (if expired, better not to renew it). You have to check with your nearest Canadian Consulate, about requirements to get a visitor visa. Everything can be made by mail, they finally stamp the visa in your RTD.
Same thing applies to UK or other countries, I believe you need to get a visa first, to travel there. Also contact the UK Consulate.
I understand you are in the process to get or have already received your RTD, check the back cover. They explain about regulations pertaining RTD. Good luck
 
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