Prince William County Withholding of Removal Lawyer
Withholding of removal is a special type of order that an immigration judge can grant, meaning a person is only eligible if they are in front of the immigration court. In order to be granted withholding, the individual needs to prove that it is more than likely that they will be persecuted in their home country.
If you are seeking withholding of removal in Prince William County, a compassionate Prince William County withholding of removal lawyer can be an essential part of creating your defense. A Prince William County immigration lawyer can help clarify any local laws that may affect your case.
Defining Withholding of Removal
To be granted withholding of removal, like asylum, a person does need to prove that that persecution is going to be on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. It will protect a person from being removed to their home country but unlike asylum, it is a limited benefit because it does not automatically lead to a green card.
The reason for this is that withholding of removal is a strange status because when a person wins a case for withholding of removal, it actually means that the immigration judge is ordering that the individual be deported. A person actually gets a deportation order but they are withholding action on that deportation, so they are actually ordered to be removed from the United States but they are withholding on acting on that order of removal.
Deciding Whether to Apply
It is not plan A, if a person is eligible for asylum, they definitely should pursue asylum as opposed to withholding of removal because it is a much stronger status that leads to a more secure legal status in the United States. Withholding of removal may be an important option for some people in Prince William County who do not meet the filing deadline because they cannot be denied on that ground, unlike an asylum application.
If the individual has proven to the judge that they are more than likely going to be persecuted in their home country if they return, then a judge needs to grant the withholding of removal application, they cannot take other discretionary factors into account like they can with asylum. Applying for withholding of removal is particularly important if someone has committed certain crimes that might make them ineligible for asylum.
Withholding of removal is a good option for many people but the person applying should be cognizant of the differences between an asylum application case and withholding of removal case and discuss with a Prince William County withholding of removal lawyer in order to discuss the next steps available.
Granting vs. Refusal
An individual cannot apply for withholding of removal affirmatively. They can indicate on an affirmative asylum application that they intend to apply for withholding of removal if they are not eligible for asylum but it must be granted by an immigration judge.
In Prince William County, somebody can be refused from a grant of withholding of removal if they cannot prove that there is a large chance that they are going to be subjected to persecution in their home country on account of the five protected grounds. They can definitely be denied for those cases, they can definitely be denied if the judge did not believe a person satisfied that criteria.
Withholding of Removal vs. Asylum
Asylum is definitely better than being granted withholding of removal because there is not an automatic pathway to a green card under withholding like there is under asylum. Also, a person granted withholding is not automatically eligible to work in the United States, they have to apply for a work authorization based on the grant of withholding and they have to renew that every year.
A person who is in the withholding of removal status also cannot travel outside of the United States. Like a grant of convention against torture, the government retains their right to deport people that are granted withholding of removal to a safe third country, unlike asylum.
In some cases there are exceptions to traveling, they can apply for something called advance parole but that is a complicated evaluation; it is inferior to asylum status in many ways. For the safety of you and your family, speaking with an experienced Prince William County withholding of removal lawyer can help your case.