Prince William County Asylum Application Process
The Prince William County asylum application process is lengthy. It does not matter if someone is filing affirmatively or defensively but if they are filing affirmatively then the initial application will be filed with the Texas Service Center and then it will be forwarded to the asylum office in Arlington. At that point, they will schedule the applicant for fingerprints, do a background check on them. At which point, the individual will most likely wait for the asylum application interview portion of the process.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Prince William asylum application process should speak with an experienced asylum lawyer. A lawyer can assist in clarifying the process for the individual, from the beginning stages of their application.
Application Timing
Right now, there is about a two-year wait for the Prince William County asylum application. The asylum process could be even more than that, but the wait is for the interview, the last portion of the asylum application process. During the wait time for the asylum interview the individual applying may need to renew their work authorization in Prince William County. Work authorizations that are valid for two years are being issued right now because of the long wait for an asylum interview.
Asylum Interviews
Once the interview is scheduled, the individual applying for asylum should arrive with all of their supporting documentation and their asylum attorney. The asylum interview is extensive, it is usually an all day process. For most people, the interview portion of the asylum application process can take all day because it is an intensive examination of their claim for asylum.
Sometimes the person interviewing the applicant can give an indication whether they are going to approve or deny their asylum application that day. Most often, a written decision on their asylum application will be sent in the mail, which can take several weeks or many, many months. Sometimes, the interviewer may call the applicant if they have further questions regarding their asylum application, or for multiple follow-up interviews if they need more clarification on the individuals need for asylum. The interview process depends on the case or the timeline.
Prince William County Approval
If the individual’s case for asylum is approved at USCIS, it is placed into asylee status and in one year they can apply for their green card. If the case for asylum is not approved, it does not mean that the application is ultimately denied, this means that their asylum application case is being sent to the immigration court.
The individual applying for asylum will receive a letter saying that they are not going to get asylum approval at this time and a few weeks or months later the applicant will receive the notice to appear in immigration court. The applicant will then attend their first master calendar hearing at the Arlington immigration court and can indicate that they will be applying for defensive asylum in Prince William County. This means an individual hearing date for asylum will be set in front of the immigration judge.
Status and Country of Origin
In Prince William County, getting an individual hearing date for defensive asylum depends on a person’s status. For instance, the applicant’s age and the country they are from. There are different calendars for different types of asylum or immigration cases. In general, people are waiting several years right now for an individual hearing to be scheduled. so some people are getting cases that are being processed more quickly due to the presence of Prince William County’s new asylum judges. However, a number of defensive asylum application cases are set out in 2022.
Prince William County asylum application is a long process that can take up to over seven years in some cases if a person is starting from that application with USCIS. Contacting a lawyer can give someone the peace of mind necessary to proceed with their case.
Hiring an Immigration Lawyer
It is much better to have an immigration attorney because asylum is a complex area of immigration law and it is not enough just to be afraid to go back to a person’s home country or have a general fear of dangerous situations in the country, the individual will have to have a legally specific claim. They have to craft it in a way that is going to fit into the framework of asylum law.
It is extremely important to have an immigration attorney when applying for asylum although it is not required. It is extremely important to have an immigration attorney if an individual is filing defensively in front of the immigration judge. In that situation, being in front of an immigration judge is more than an interview; it is an adversarial process because there is a prosecutor that pokes holes in a person’s claim and it is a full blown trial.
Prosecution
Sometimes a person applying for asylum in Prince William County will run into strong cases where the prosecutor is not going to strenuously oppose the grant of asylum. Those asylum cases are a little more straightforward. There are a lot of prosecutors in asylum application cases that are fair and they do not want to spend a lot of their time trying to oppose cases that they think have merit that should be granted. There are prosecutors that are going to be arguing that an individual does not qualify and trying to poke holes in a person’s credibility and so there are cross examinations just like any other court hearing.