An individual in the U.S., or upon admission to the U.S., may apply for asylum if they have been or believe they will be persecuted by their home country’s government, or individuals from their country. To create grounds for asylum, the persecution must be on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. While an asylum application is required to be filed within one year, there are exceptions to the rule if there have been changed country conditions, or for some other reasons.

If an asylum applicant loses their case before the Asylum Office, they may renew the application for asylum, withholding, and CAT (Convention Against Torture) before the IJ (Immigration Judge). The asylum application is heard de novo (as if it’s for the first time) before the IJ. Unlike the asylum interview, removal proceedings are adversarial, with an attorney from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) most often fighting against relief for the applicant.

During the removal proceedings, numerous issues may come up, such as the timeliness of the filing, whether the applicant is credible, whether the supporting documents are admissible, the relevance of supporting witnesses, and the strength of the claim. (I.e., does the applicant fear harm based on one of the enumerated grounds?) Ahmad & Associates have successfully won many asylum cases for people from throughout the world.

Speak with an Immigration Lawyer About Asylum and CAT Claims

If you or someone you care about wants to make an asylum claim, contact Ahmad & Associates to discuss your situation and set up a consultation with an immigration attorney. From offices in Northern Virginia, we represent clients from Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and around the U.S., as well as internationally. We speak Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, and French, and can arrange to have interpreters for many other languages present as well.