Our client, a citizen of Burkina Faso, came to the US originally seeking asylum. During his time in the states, he obtained work and delivered medication to pharmacies around town. While on the job, he met a woman technician and became drawn to her. Soon later, they began talking and started a relationship, and eventually, the technician became his wife.
Yesterday, the DHS has published in the Federal Register its proposed changes to the USCIS fee schedule. In general, the plan seeks to surge application filing fees for many immigration benefits. After examination of current fees and expenditures, acting direction of USCIS Ken Cuccinelli concluded that “current fees do not recover the full costs of providing adjudication and naturalization services, and [. . .] would leave the agency underfunded by approximately 1.3 billion per year.”
Claiming asylum has never been the most popular means of entering or remaining in the US. Nevertheless, about 100,000 people apply for asylum in the US every year, representing an increase of at least 1,700 percent over 2007. The percentage of claims that are approved have decreased for the last several years, even as the percentage of claims dismissed as frivolous has risen.
Your interview could make or break your application for asylum in the US. Your ability to tell your story in detail, and to answer questions in a manner that is consistent with the written materials you provided as well as outside sources of information, is critical to your changes of success. Your demeanor at the interview will also impact the credibility that the immigration officer attaches to your application.
To win your US asylum claim, you are going to have to prove that you were persecuted in your home country, or that you have a credible fear of persecution if you return. Furthermore, you must have been selected for persecution based on your race, religion, nationality, political views, or membership in a social group.
