Speaker 1: If you're considering seeking asylum in the United States in 2024, or if you've already applied and you want to better understand the system so that you can improve your chances for success, then this tutorial is for you. A lot has changed recently in the way the US government handles asylum cases. And as the presidential election heats up, candidates are vowing to overhaul the system. So more change may be on the horizon. To be sure, asylum is a hot topic in America. And there's a lot of misconceptions out there about it. In this video, I'm going to explain the state of things in 2024 so that you know what you're up against in trying to win asylum in the USA. I'm going to cover today three key topics. One, what asylum is. Two, what the benefits are of winning asylum. And three, how you qualify for asylum in the United States in 2024. I'm Brian Manning, and I used to be an asylum officer with the government. But now, as an asylum lawyer, I help immigrants all over the country to secure their future in America through asylum. Let me know in the comments if you've got an asylum case pending, or if you're considering applying. And I'd especially like to hear from you if you've been waiting for an asylum interview for multiple years. So what exactly is USA asylum? It's a decision by the US authorities to allow non-citizens to remain in the country to avoid potential harm in their homeland. This is a protective measure by the US government to assist people at risk of persecution in their native countries. And we offer refuge to those who face threats from their governments or from forces that their governments can't or won't control. The US grants asylum to individuals who meet the definition of a refugee, as defined in US legislation, along with other requirements, which we'll address shortly. Now, why might seeking asylum be beneficial for you? In other words, why would you want to get asylum in the United States? Well, first and foremost, it provides safety. It's a way to evade danger in your home country, which can sometimes be a life or death situation. Asylum provides assurance about your security and your future, ensuring that you're not returned to a place where you could face harm. It affords peace of mind, knowing that your future in America is secure. And you can build the life you dreamed of here with confidence that this will be your home forever. You see, asylum puts you on the path to permanent legal status, which means it's one of only a few means to get permanent residency. There are limited avenues for legally residing long term and working in the United States. And typically, this requires sponsorship from family members in the United States who are US citizens or green card holders, i.e. permanent residents, or being sponsored by a US employer. And even if you have those connections, you might not be able to benefit from them depending on things like how you entered the country, i.e. whether you did so legally, whether you overstayed your visa, or perhaps violated other immigration rules. Now, you see, asylum is much more flexible. A lot of things that prevent you from getting permanent status by other means don't apply in the asylum context. So it's really pretty special. Without family or job connections, or if you have those but don't qualify for permanent status because of other things, then your options are limited. There's no line you can just apply to get in to eventually get permanent residence here. It just doesn't work that way. Now, I said that asylum can lead to a green card. How does that work? Well, one year after receiving asylum, you become eligible for permanent residence, which has its own set of benefits, including more rights and privileges than asylum status. And four years after getting your green card, you could apply for US citizenship, which I absolutely recommend that you do. It's the most secure immigration status and gives you the most rights. There can also be benefits for your family if you win asylum. If your spouse and children are in the United States and you indicate on your application form that they are to be included in your asylum claim, then they'll get asylum status just like you when your case is approved. If they're outside of the country, you can file a petition that will allow them to come to the United States on the basis of your asylum status. Note that to benefit, your children must be under 21 years old at the time that you apply for asylum and they must remain unmarried through the time of the asylum approval and if coming from abroad after that through the time that they actually arrive in the United States. And there's another major benefit of seeking asylum that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention. The ability to work legally while your case is pending. 150 days after applying for asylum, you're eligible to apply for a work permit, which is formally called an employment authorization document referred to as an EAD for its acronym. At present, the immigration agency that issues work permits called US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS is approving most of these applications within a month or two of receipt. So about six or seven months after applying for asylum, you can get permission to work legally as well as a social security number, which is helpful for day to day life in the United States. This ability to work is hugely important for many immigrants in the United States. So the fact that applying for asylum allows you to do this is huge. By the way, if you want to maximize your chances for asylum success, then be sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell notification so that you don't miss the insights that I share on this channel. Okay, so it's clear that winning asylum comes with massive benefits. Let's now discuss the USA asylum qualifications. Who qualifies for asylum in America? Now, keep in mind, this is a complex area of law. Asylum laws are intricate. Government policies around this change frequently and each case is unique. You should definitely talk with an asylum lawyer about your particular situation. But I do want to provide you with some basics here. So who can get asylum in the United States? Well, first, you must be either physically present in the United States or at a port of entry to apply for asylum. Now, when I say port of entry, I mean things like an airport, border crossing checkpoint, or a sea port. You cannot apply from outside the United States. At present, you can schedule an appointment for a meeting with immigration authorities at the southern border using a phone application called CBP1. And that can get you in the country and put you on the path to seeking refuge. But it's not the same as actually applying for asylum. All right, it does not matter whether you entered the country You can apply for asylum even if you crossed the border without permission. Likewise, it's okay if you overstayed a visa. That will not keep you from applying for asylum and won't keep you from actually winning your case either. Also, if you came on a visa, it does not matter what your status was, like whether you came as a student, a tourist, or for business. You can apply for asylum no matter your classification. Okay, so what does the law say about who actually gets USA asylum? Well, to qualify for asylum, you need to demonstrate that you are a refugee as defined in U.S. immigration law. So what does that mean? Well, you must convince the U.S. government of a realistic probability of persecution if you return to your country. Under certain circumstances, you can win based just on past persecution alone, even without a fear of future persecution. But in most scenarios, you've got to convince the U.S. government that there's still real risk of persecution going forward. The likelihood of persecution doesn't have to be certain, but there should be a reasonable possibility of it happening. Now, this has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court as about a one in 10 chance. So the question is whether there's at least a 10% chance that you'd be persecuted if you had to go back to your country. I've used the term persecuted or persecution several times. What does that actually mean? Well, basically it means significant harm. You see, it's not sufficient to fear unfair treatment or minor assaults in your country. To qualify for asylum, the feared harm must be considerably severe. Typically, this means grave physical injury or repeated lesser injuries that cumulatively amount to significant mistreatment. Now, mere harassment, economic deprivation, and minor physical injury usually is not enough. But these kinds of things can, considered together, rise to the level of persecution in some cases. Note also that death threats alone usually are not considered serious enough harm to count as persecution, but they can be if they put you at objectively reasonable fear of imminent death, such as through a mock execution, for example. Part of the challenge in your case is showing that the harm that you've endured indeed meets this standard of persecution, which you do by detailing just how bad the stuff that you endured was, how it affected you both physically and psychologically. All right, so that's persecution. But showing that you've been persecuted or convincing the government that you're likely to be persecuted in the future is not enough by itself to win your asylum case. To be eligible for asylum, you've also got to show that the harm is motivated by one of the five protected characteristics as defined in US asylum law. Now, these five protected characteristics are your race, religion, nationality, political opinion, and something called membership in a particular social group. The idea here is that you've got to show that the bad guys are motivated to persecute you, at least in significant part, by the fact that you possess one of the five protected grounds, or at least the bad guys think that you possess one or more of those grounds. And unfortunately, many asylum cases are lost because the applicant does not show that the persecution is motivated by a protected ground. For example, if you fear gang violence due to your refusal to join the gang, this may not qualify for asylum as the gang's motivation isn't really related to the protected grounds. However, a skilled asylum lawyer could potentially argue that the persecution is based on one of the protected grounds, depending on the specifics of your case. Now, the same is true in extortion cases. Many people are at risk because criminals want them to pay extortion money and may kill them if they don't. When it's just a profit motive, you won't win asylum because that doesn't fit within one of the five asylum categories. Now, in contrast, if you're persecuted for your religious beliefs, well, this could constitute a strong asylum case because religion is one of the five protected grounds under U.S. Asylum Law. Similarly, if you're being threatened over your political opinion, this can work as, again, that's one of the protected characteristics under U.S. Asylum Law. You've got to understand that connecting the motive for the persecution to one of the five protected grounds is not always straightforward. Courts have interpreted these grounds in some strange ways, and there's some gray area and room for creativity in arguing that your case fits into one of these five boxes. Also, understand that establishing the motive behind persecution is often done through connecting the dots among circumstantial evidence. You see, the bad guys don't necessarily literally say, I'm going to kill you because I don't like people of your race. A good asylum attorney can help present the evidence in a way that helps demonstrate that the feared harm is due to a protected ground. So far, we've said that to win asylum, you must show that you're at real risk of being persecuted and that the persecution is motivated by one of the five protected characteristics, which again, are your race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or something called membership in a particular social group. There's actually a lot more that goes into a winning asylum case, and I want to touch on just a few of these issues here. If the persecutors are non-government actors, like if they don't work directly for the government, then you need to show that the government is unable or unwilling to protect you. Now to do this, you could either show that the authorities have rejected your attempts to get help, like if you've gone to the police and they said, sorry, we're not going to get involved in political matters, or you can show that the authorities are unlikely to help based on reports about your country that show this. This is a point a skilled asylum lawyer can really help you make. Okay, here's another key asylum requirement. You must demonstrate that relocating within your country to avoid persecution is not a viable option. In other words, if you could avoid harm just by going to a new city, state, or region in your country, then you probably won't get asylum. You've really got to go out of your way to explain why you can't internally relocate to avoid persecution if the people that you fear are private actors and not from the government. Where the persecutors are from the government, well, it's assumed that they could harm you anywhere in the country, but this presumption does not exist where the persecutors are private citizens. Okay, by way of summary, we now know that to win asylum, you've got to establish a well-founded fear of persecution and that the persecution would be motivated by one of the five protected asylum grounds. And we know that there are some additional requirements. So the question becomes, how do you prove your case? How do you show that you meet all of the asylum requirements? It's a combination of evidence and your testimony. And by testimony, I mean what you say on the day of your asylum interview or hearing in immigration court. You've got to testify to tell your story, showing the judge or asylum officer that you meet all of the asylum requirements in a convincing way. You'll be expected to speak in detail about what's happened and why you fear going back to your country. Unfortunately, this is hard. You don't just get to say whatever you want to say. You don't get to tell your story in the way that you want to tell it. Rather, you'll be asked question after question after question. You'll be cut off frequently. Sometimes it's a very hostile environment. You definitely need to practice with an asylum lawyer. Preparing for your testimony can drastically improve your chances for success. All right, to the extent possible, you should provide evidence that backs up your story. This can include things like medical reports from treatment that you got after being harmed or perhaps screenshots of threatening text messages that you received or maybe photos that show that you've been harmed or threatened or that you indeed possess the protected ground that you claim to possess. Now your asylum lawyer can advise as to exactly what kind of evidence will be most impactful in your particular case. And your lawyer can also leverage country of origin information such as reports from human rights organizations or news outlets to support your claim. A skilled asylum lawyer will cite to this information in a convincing legal brief where they're applying the facts of your case to the law to show the judge exactly how you meet the asylum requirements. All right, before we wrap up, let me know that there are a few things that can serve as a bar to asylum in your case. And I want to mention three of the most common ones. Filing your asylum application more than one year after you arrive in the United States will lead to a denial unless you demonstrate that you qualify for one of the two categories of exceptions to the so-called one-year filing deadline. Second, being physically present in a third country, meaning someplace other than your own country and the United States after your last departure from your country may ruin your asylum claim if you had permanent residence while you were in that third country. This is called the firm resettlement bar and it does trip up a lot of people. And third, the history of criminal activity or association with terrorists can disqualify you from asylum. If you're ready to take the next step and get help with your asylum case, then call my office today. That number is 713-909-0401. And remember, we help people all over the country, so it doesn't matter where you live. Call us now to schedule an asylum strategy session so that we can help you secure your future in America through asylum. Again, I'm Brian Manning and it's an honor to support you in your asylum journey.