Eileen Collins Bretz Immigration Law Blog on Lawyers.com

You may have a right to stay in the United States lawfully if you are eligible for asylum.

Asylum is the protection the U.S. government affords to people who have a legitimate fear that they will be harmed if you return to their original country or whom have been harmed there in the past.  The threat or harm must come from the government or from someone whom the government cannot control, like a paramilitary faction or a terrorist group.

There are certain ways the United States determines eligibility for asylum.  The threat or harm an asylee fears or has experienced must be based on particular conditions or characteristics:

• Race
• Religion
• Nationality
• Political beliefs

Eligibility is also extended to people who are members of a specific, persecuted or threatened social group:

• Family
• Union
• Political party
• Clan
• Village
• Religious organization
• Women
• Homosexuals
• Women who oppose certain social practices
• People who oppose certain birth- or family-planning measures

The United States will accept asylum applications for up to one year from the date you last entered the country.

If you are able to show convincing reasons why you did not apply within a year of arrival in the US—such as the fact that conditions worsened in your country—you may still be eligible for asylum, but the citizenship application in new york city is complicated and requires consistency and burdensome paperwork and proof on the part of the applicant.  In New York City citizenship and immigration, it is important to have a lawyer to help in these proceedings.

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