Immigration Law

Are you afraid to go home? If you have been harmed in your country in the past or your think you would be harmed in your country in the future, you may be able to apply for asylum in the United States. To be eligible for asylum, you must establish that you were or would be harmed either by your country’s government or a group that your government cannot control. You also must establish that you were or would be harmed because of your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group.

You must apply for asylum within one year of entering the United States. Please come see us before that deadline. If you have missed the one-year deadline, you may still be able to file for asylum if we can prove that there were certain reasons why you did not apply. In addition, if you missed the deadline, you may still be able to apply for two other forms of relief: withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture.

There are two ways you can file for asylum and we can help you with either. If you are in the United States and have not been summoned to Immigration Court, you may file an application directly with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This is called an affirmative asylum application. If you have already been summoned to Immigration Court, you can apply for asylum with the Court. This is called a defensive application.

Either way, the asylum process is very complicated and difficult. We are proud to say that we have an extremely high success rate of asylum approvals. We would be honored to help you through this process from beginning to end.

Of utmost importance to people is the work permission associated with an application for asylum. Whether you file for asylum affirmatively, or in front of an Immigration Judge, you can file for work permission 180 days after your application has been received by the government, unless it has been denied before that time.

Once you are granted asylum, you are allowed to live and work in the United States and are eligible for federal benefits. You can also file for your spouse and children to join you in the United States if they are still back home or elsewhere. One year after you get asylum, you may apply for permanent residence (a green card) and will be on the path to citizenship.

The attorneys at Maris Immigration Law have been handling asylum cases for more than 30 years. We are passionate about the protections of refugees and work extremely hard to ensure that each case is prepared so that it will be successful.