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Asylum

Asylum and refugee decisions are made under legal standards that require you to have a well-founded fear or history of persecution. Asylum relief can be life-changing because it allows you to stay in the United States and, over time, you can apply for lawful permanent residence and citizenship. If you need to obtain asylum, you should call Lupe Lafont. Ms. Lafont is a seasoned Coral Gables immigration law attorney who may be able to help you seek protection and represent you in related legal matters such as work authorization. You may be eligible for work authorization [link to work authorization] 180 days after you file an asylum petition.

What is Asylum?

Asylum is a form of protection the United States government provides when a foreign national has entered the country and has a well-founded fear of persecution. Your asylum petition can be affirmative or defensive. You can file an affirmative application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if you’re not in removal proceedings. A defensive application is one we’d file for you if you were already in removal proceedings. As your Coral Gables lawyer for these proceedings, Ms. Lafont would need to establish that you’re entitled to asylum protection under the law and meet other eligibility requirements.

You can seek asylum if you’re outside your country of nationality and you are unable or unwilling to go back to that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to:

• Religion

• Race

• Nationality

• Political opinion

• Membership in a particular social group.

You may apply for asylum if you’re physically present in a country or you come into the country, whether or not at a designated port of arrival. You can seek asylum after being interdicted in the United States or international waters, regardless of your status.

Asylum Petition

In order to obtain asylum on your behalf, Ms. Lafont would need to file a Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Asylum, within a year of your entry into the country, unless you delay. There is no fee to apply for asylum. You may include your child and spouse in the country on your application at the time you file or at any time until a final decision is made in your case. To include your child on an application, he or she needs to be under age 21 and not married.

Our Coral Gables lawyer won’t be able to get asylum through the immigration system if the Attorney General decides you can be removed under a bilateral or multilateral agreement to a country in which your life or freedom wouldn’t be threatened due to religion, nationality, race, political opinion or social group and where you’d have access to a fair and full procedure for determining a claim for protection. An exception exists if the Attorney General decides it is in the public interest for you to receive asylum in the United States.

Withholding of Removal

If you do not qualify for asylum, our diligent Miami immigration lawyer will examine whether withholding of removal would be appropriate. Both applications, if granted, stop removal. For withholding of removal, we’ll need to show it’s “more likely than not” that your life or freedom would be threatened due to religion, race, membership in a specific social group, political opinion, or religion. In contrast, asylum requires us to prove there’s a “reasonable possibility of persecution” in the country of removal, and this is a lower standard that’s easier to establish. Still, usually, there’s a narrower window within which to pursue.

Convention Against Torture

If you are afraid of being returned to your country due to past future or threats of torture, we may be able to apply for protection under the Convention Against Torture. Torture refers to any act in which severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical, is intentionally inflicted on someone for such purposes as getting from him or a third person: 1) information or a confession, 2) penalizing or intimidating or coercing him or a third person or discriminatory reasons, 3) when the pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official. It doesn’t include pain or suffering that arises from or is integral to or incidental to lawful sanctions. 

Hire an Experienced Miami Immigration Lawyer who could represent you in Court if necessary.

Asylum is an important protection. You should seek counsel within a year of coming to the country if you are in fear of persecution in your home country. If asylum is not the appropriate remedy, Lupe Lafont is a dedicated Venezuelan immigration lawyer who may be able to file the petition on your behalf and ask for alternative protections as appropriate.