Maryland Asylum Disqualifying Factors

The most common Maryland asylum disqualifying factor for an individual is having a criminal record. If an individual has been convicted of an aggravated felony or a particularly serious crime, they are ineligible for asylum. Missing the one-year deadline is also a common disqualifying issue in asylum cases. A person is required to apply for asylum or submits their initial application within one year of entering the United States. A lot of people fail to do so, even though they have a legitimate fear of returning to their home country. Often this is due to a mistaken belief that they need to wait until their first hearing in front of the judge to submit the application or do not get a Maryland asylum attorney quickly enough and are not informed of the one-year deadline.

After Being Granted Asylum

A person can lose eligibility after being granted asylum. One way to lose eligibility would be to immediately return to the home country after being granted asylum. When the person applies to re-enter the United States or when they apply to adjust their status to permanent resident, government officials can revisit the individual’s case and revisit the credibility of their statements on the application. A person can also lose their eligibility or asylum status by committing a disqualifying crime while an asylee or after they have obtained their green card.

Disqualification Process

Someone going through the process of obtaining asylum could be disqualified if the individual commits a particularly serious crime, like an aggravated felony, while their case is under adjudication.

In those cases, the individual may be detained, which would require them to apply for a bond. If they have committed an aggravated felony, they will be scheduled on the detailed calendar, which is a different calendar than would be the case if the charge was not pending. The case will be expedited so they will have a hearing more quickly.

In that hearing, the individual will have to defend themselves in a way that will convince the court that their crime does not make them ineligible for asylum. If they are able to establish that their crime is non-disqualifying, they will be scheduled for an individual hearing. If the individual is unable to establish that the crime should not be a Maryland asylum disqualifying factor, they could be ordered to be deported before they have a chance to argue their asylum claim in court.

Crimes Committed Outside of the US

A crime does not have to occur in the U.S. to be a Maryland asylum disqualifying factor. It can have occurred outside of the country, but those are rarer because the government does not typically have the capacity to check people’s criminal records in other countries.

For example, there is a lot of cooperation between the U.S. government and the government of El Salvador so they provide criminal histories upon request.

When an asylum seeker has committed previous gang-related offenses in their home country, the United States government can learn of those crimes pretty easily and disqualify the individual from being eligible for asylum. In most cases, problems arise when people commit crimes in the United States either while their applications are pending or before they have submitted them.

Other Disqualifying Factors

The most common way that a person can be disqualified for applying for asylum is by committing a crime. Individuals should be cautious to avoid having any criminal issues while applying for asylum or afterward.

It is also important that a person refrains from traveling to their home country without consulting with an experienced asylum attorney. It may be permissible in some cases, but it is a risk and the individual needs to talk to an attorney about that before they do it.

It is imperative that a person knows the date of entry that the government has in their file and on the notice to appear if they are in immigration court. There are filing deadlines that are determined by that date and failing to comply would create new hurdles to overcome.

A person can reapply if there are changed conditions in their country that have emerged after the denial and if it has been denied by the immigration court then they will have to reopen the individual’s case in order for that to happen.