Fairfax Asylum Lawyer
There are many reasons someone would be seeking asylum in Fairfax. However, the typical reason for applying for asylum is danger or fear of prosecution from the individual’s home country. Anyone seeking local refuge or citizenship should speak with an experienced immigration lawyer about their case and how to apply. A Fairfax asylum lawyer can advise the individual on the application process and how local laws may affect their case.
Urgency for Asylum
In some cases where a person has family members applying for derivatives who are abroad and are really in dangerous situations abroad, they can apply with USCIS for an expedited interview on humanitarian grounds and the bar for getting those approved is extremely high. There has to be an absolutely imminent situation. Fairfax asylum lawyers have seen that even in cases that have seemingly imminent danger, it is still very difficult for it to be expedited. In general, it is not possible to expedite, but in some cases, it is legally possible. A person applying for United Nations Conventions Against Torture and Fairfax asylum will need the help of an attorney early on as well.
Rate of Acceptance in Fairfax
The asylum rate of acceptance depends on whether the individual is applying affirmatively or defensively in immigration court and even within the USCIS office. Fairfax asylum lawyers have seen that within the Arlington immigration court, there are very big differences in approval ratings between each judge. Syracuse University actually keeps a record of approval rates for all of the asylum judges throughout the country and so a person can actually look up their approval rates and it is pretty staggering in some courts, some of the differences from judge to judge and from court to court, even when they are dealing with the same sorts of population and the same types of cases, the approval ratings can really differ very widely depending on which judge a person is appearing in front of or which USCIS adjudicator gets the case.
Every judge has a different approval rating and it could be, in some courts, very, very low. In some rates, there are some courts that are higher than 80 percent. In general, Arlington, which is where anyone in Fairfax would be applying in immigration court or appearing in immigration court, it is actually a pretty favorable venue, relatively speaking, and so the judges in general, they have a fairly high approval rate compared to other courts in the country.
Varying Races and Religions
A person is not given preference because of a certain membership in a race or religion. There are definitely some groups of individuals where it is easier to document their persecution in their home country. It just depends on the type of persecution an individual has suffered and how that is connected to their race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group.
Someone seeking asylum in Fairfax should make sure that an individual applies and pays close attention to the filing deadline. There are exceptions to the filing deadline if the individual can prove that there are extraordinary circumstances that prevented them from timely filing. In general, that is an uphill battle as well and an individual and their Fairfax asylum lawyer need to apply within one year.
The one year is counted from the date that a person entered in the United States. However, a person can argue that the one-year clock should start at the date that the danger emerged in his or her home country. If a person has been in the county for the longer than a year and there are people in his or her country that are in members in his or her particular social group that are now being targeted, he or she can start the tolling date at the date that the danger emerged. That is not a bar for filing timely.
Length of Time Awaiting Asylum
The length of time it takes to be granted asylum depends on which venue an individual begins his or her case. If a person is an affirmative asylum applicant and affirmatively submits their application for asylum with their local USCIS office, it depends on the location applying. Right now, in Virginia, it is over a two-year wait to get the initial asylum interview.
If a person is defensively applying, meaning that he or she is in removal proceedings right now and is applying for asylum as a defense from removal, then that will also depend on the calendar of the court that he or she is applying in. Some courts have to set dates as far as 5 years in advance to even begin hearing the request for asylum.
Help From a Fairfax Asylum Lawyer
It is very important to have a Fairfax asylum lawyer in these cases. Asylum cases are complex and require extensive documentation and preparation and it is very important to make sure that a person’s application is as complete as possible and that they are very, very clear on all the details of their case. Because the interviews are really extensive, they can last all day in the USCIS setting and several hours in a trial setting in the immigration court. It is very important to have an attorney in these cases.
Although a person is not required to have one, some people do it without, some people have a lot of supporting evidence when they enter the country and have really straightforward claims and they can possibly win an asylum case without an attorney but, in general, it is highly preferable to have an attorney.