Recent Number of Asylum Grants

G

Gilbert

Active Member
Dear Alanpero,
I think that you underestimated the number of asylum grants in recent years. I understand that the INS only reports grants made by its own asylum officers. As you may know, both immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (known collectively as the EOIR) also grant asylum. In addition, successful asylum applicants may bring in their spouses and children from overseas. The INS does not report the number of those I-730 beneficiaries

In FY 97, there were at least 22,300 granted asylum.

In 98, there were at least 20,500 new asylees.

In FY 99, there were at least 21,000.

I am searching deeper for other years.

But the situation is more serious than most of us thought.

Thanks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
No Title

Doh! So average number of 20,000 people are granted for asylum /year since FY 97 right? Assuming the growth remained the same for the years following 99 (2000,2001) there must be like 80,000 people granted for asylum since 1997. INS said people that applied before 98 should have been adjudicated or should be in the process of being adjudicated, so ....there must be close to 60,000 people that applied for I-485.
Divide that by 10,000/year and you get close to 6 years of average waiting time per I-485 case.

 I could be VERY wrong. And I hope I am.
 
No Title

I am sorry, that it seems that a little math would lead to the conclusion you reached. I think the situation is VERY GRAVE, especially for people granted asylum recently.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
No Title

Oh well...looking on the bright side 4 to 5 years is still less than how long refugee/asylees have to wait to become PR in countries like Germany etc.

Still...somebody should change the prints on the statue of liberty to

"Give me your rich, your educated, and those who can afford to lobby in the Congress.."
 
No Title

Hi Gilbert,
I am not so concerned about figures for FY 98 or after, since mine was approved before that. Might sound selfish, but only a personal interest pushed me to searching on this. I wanted to have an idea of how many I-485 applications pending of approval are before mine, and thus, to know when I could reasonably expect my application to be processed.
Figures reported are what INS has approved, and I couldn\'t find any reference about IJ or BIA cases. And also we have to take into account that those EOIR cases, most likely are not solved in the same FY.
As for the spouses and children from overseas, INS has reported that from the time the asylum is granted and the I-485 application is filed, the number of asylum I-485 applications increases by 5 to 6 % only. I found this reference in one of those asylum reports posted in their website. That increase of 5 to 6% (I am not sure at this moment about the exact %, but is something around that)reflects the effect of asylees bringing their relatives from overseas. So, I am not so cencerned about this.
As for FY 97, the difference between 22300 and 15896 might be attributable to EOIR cases, and I do not have any clue on where to find how many EOIR cases from FY 97 were approved, but most important how many of them were finally approved in FY 97 and how many in FY 98.
I am still a kind of reluctant to believe that those EOIR cases could add so many, maybe because I don\'t know what reference you found for them. So, only after INS releases information on the new cut-off date (probably by October)we will have a better idea on where we are really standing.
As for those asylum granted after FY 98 but specially for the ones filed recently, I agree they are facing a very long way to go, much more longer than anything that is being reported in this forum. We urgently need to push on that HR 1560. Regards
 
No Title

Yes, the need is very obvious. It will require an organized campaign to get things moving in the right direction.
 
No Title

Hi Gilbert, well, I hadn\'t read the reference you posted when I made that comment. What I meant is that it takes some time from the moment when the asylum case is derived to an Immigration Judge and the asylum is finally granted. But, after reading the reference you posted it is apparent that there are like 6500 more individuals that were actually granted asylum in addition to what INS reports for FY 1998, which makes everything worse.
 
No Title

does it really matter that much how long it takes, as long as the asylee has work authorization approved every year. They do keep authorizing it every year, right? They won\'t relinquish someone\'s asylee status if conditions in the country change before the AOS is given?
 
No Title

Hi Gabe,

 Yes, it does matter for the following reasons:
(1) Asylees cannot sponsor their spouse (married after Asylum approval) or relatives even for a visitor\'\'s visa until they get their Greencard. If you search through these postings you will find one asylee telling his friend\'s story of how he cannot see his terminally ill mother.

(2) The RTD restrict us from visitng not only to our home countries, but also to some countries that deny Visa to RTD holders (such as Nepal, I am being told)

(3) Some employers will turn you down for jobs if they find out you are on Asylee status. This is because Asylee immigration status is uncertain. One company openly told me "We cannot have our IT Manager being sent back home by the INS when country conditions improve."

(4) INS\'s handling of EAD renewals is horrible. In the past it has taken me 6 months to renew my EAD and charge $100 (Canada and European countries don\'t charge their Asylee Refugees for work permits, this is the only country in the free world that makes asylees pay for EADs). But I am not gonig to complain about this further because recently ORR has authorized to issue "conditionless Social Security Cards" to the asylees.

The law states that INS can remove asylee status when human right conditions in Asylee\'s country improves. That also applies to asylees who\'s I-485 is still pending.
 
No Title

Asylees do NOT need to renew their EAD card every year. Someone can go to a social security office with evidence of asylee status and will receive an unrestricted social security card. The card, along with a picture ID, can be used for work purposes.
Asylee status IS SUBJECT TO TERMINATION if country conditions improve. Although I must say that this is vary rare. It is nevertheless possible before adjustment.

Adjustment most definitely matters--a lot.
 
No Title

Hi Jack, I am out of town and checking this site only eventually. Where did you find that the Bill reached the Senate floor? Is that a good new, bad new? Is that the normal procedure to follow, HR first and Senate after? Thanks
 
No Title

Sorry, my poor choice of words. It has not reached to the voting stage. No activity since the last hearings. Sorry :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top