Asylum granted after 25 years!

Sep 21, 2012

OUTCOME: successful

Mr. M, a native of Egypt, contacted my office regarding his very complicated case. He had been in the U.S. since 1985. He applied for legal permanent residency through his mother, who had a greencard. ... He was approved for the I-130 and filed his greencard application. He remained in the U.S. awaiting a response. The USCIS kept requesting additional documents but never gave him a decision. He was interviewed in 2001, and again waited for a decision to be made but he never received one. He contacted me in 2011, requesting that I look into his case. I made multiple inquiries to the Honolulu USCIS office (where the client was living). Finally, in August of 2011, the USCIS denied his application for legal permanent residency. Due to the turmoil in Egypt, I recommended that my client apply for asylum. Since he had been in the U.S. for over 25 years, he was barred by the one year statutory deadline, but his case fell under the exceptions of changed country conditions as well as extraordinary circumstances. He agreed and we filed his asylum application. He was interviewed and in February 2012, his case was referred to the Immigration Court. My office worked very hard with the assistance of co-counsel, Tanya Linetsky, to build a strong case for my client. We successfully argued his case in Court, and Mr. M was granted asylum in September 2012. He is now applying for his greencard to become a legal permanent resident.