Asylum

Asylum and Refugee Laws

Asylum is a complicated area of immigration law that is constantly changing. Therefore, legal representatives must stay constantly up to date.

1) The first question to ask is who is a refugee or an asylee?

A refugee or an asylee is defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act as:

A person who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of last habitual residence due to a well-founded fear of future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group INA §101(a)(42)(A).

2) The burden is on the applicant of an asylum claim.

3) A person must show that she/he has:

• A well-founded fear or a past experience of
• persecution by a
• persecutor
• on the basis of race, religion, national origin, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, and
• one of the enumerated grounds was or will be a central reason for the persecution.

Like any other cases, Asylum cases depend on credibility of the applicant.