Asylum or Refugee?

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Asylum or Refugee Status: Who Is Eligible?


I've fled my home country and I'm afraid to go back, may I qualify for asylum or refugee status in the U.S.

ANSWER:

Asylum and refugee status are special legal protections available to people who have left their home country for their own safety and are afraid to return.

What's the difference between asylum and refugee status under U.S. immigration laws -- that is, who should seek asylum status, and who should seek refugee status? It's simply a matter of where you are when you apply. People outside of the United States must apply for refugee status. People who have already made it to the U.S. border or the interior (perhaps by using a visa or by entering illegally) can apply for asylum status.

Once granted, both statuses allow you to stay in the United States indefinitely. Asylees and refugees are given permission to work and are allowed to apply for a green card (within one year of either entering the United States as a refugee or being approved for asylum).
But not everyone qualifies for asylum or refugee status. You must meet some strict requirements, as described in this article. In particular, you must show two things:

• You are unable or unwilling to return to your home country because you have been persecuted there in the past or have a well-founded fear that you will be persecuted if you go back.
• The reason you have been (or will be) persecuted is connected to one of five things: your race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or your political opinion.

Let's look more closely at what these requirements mean.

What Is Persecution?

To persecute means to harass, punish, injure, oppress, or otherwise cause someone to suffer physical or psychological harm. U.S. immigration law does not list specific examples of the kinds of persecution that would qualify someone for asylum or refugee status. However, from the law that has been developed through court cases, we know that it can include such acts as threats, violence, torture, inappropriate imprisonment, or denial of basic human rights or freedoms.

Historically, for example, the need for asylum or refugee status has been recognized in situations where a foreign government has:

• imprisoned and tortured political dissidents or supposed undesirables
• fired weapons on protesters
• committed genocide against a certain race
• made sure that members of a certain religion were left out of the political process,
• and much more.