Atlanta’s Best Immigration Attorneys

Atlanta’s Best Immigration Attorneys

Three factors that affect asylum applications

On Behalf of | Jan 2, 2020 | Immigration Law

One of the things that is very important to understand is that a person who has been in the United States unlawfully for more than a year may not qualify for asylum. However, they may qualify for asylum related applications, such as withholding of removal or relief under the UN Convention Against Torture. Assuming that they are able to file within one year of entering Georgia, there are three elements that they need to prove to be able to apply for asylum. 

According to Nolo, the first is that they have a well founded fear of returning to their home country. This well founded fear can be proven, either because they suffered past persecution or that they have a fear of returning in the future because other people who are in similar situations are also suffering harm. The second element is there needs to be a group that has persecuted them because they are in some kind of specialized group or there is a group that would likely go and persecute them because they are in a specialized group. Examples of these groups include race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or political beliefs. 

According to the American Immigration Council, the government needs to be the entity that is persecuting them or there needs to be a group that the government will not control in persecuting them. It’s very important that if a person seeking asylum in the United States seek out an immigration attorney and not an immigration consultant. This is because these people are not lawyers and may take advantage of people by filing fraudulent asylum claims, telling them that they’re going to get an immigration benefit but in the end put them on a path towards deportation.