Go from Asylum Status to Green Card after Only One Year

Asylees may apply for a green card while inside the United States. That process is called adjustment of status. In fact, an asylee may adjust status to a permanent resident if the asylee meets the following four requirements:

• Asylee has been physically present in the United States for at least one year after being granted asylum;
• Principal asylee continues to meet the definition of a refugee, or the derivative asylee continues to be the spouse or child of the principal asylee;
• Asylee has not firmly resettled in any foreign country; and
• Asylee is admissible to the United States as an immigrant at the time of examination for adjustment of status, subject to various exceptions and waivers.

Only time spent in the United States counts towards the one-year physical presence requirement to move from asylum to green card. For a principal asylee, physical presence starts accruing on the date the U.S. government grants asylum. For derivatives, the date may vary. Derivative asylees who are physically present in the United States when the application is approved may use the date of approval. If the derivative was outside the United States on the date that the government approved the application, they may use the date of admission to the United States as the start date.

Additionally, physical presence is a cumulative requirement. Therefore, you must deduct any time spent outside the United States from the total days of your residency. If the asylee traveled outside the U.S. with a travel document, the time spent abroad does not count toward the total. The physical presence resumes once the asylee returns.

Remember, the principal asylee had to show a well-founded fear of persecution in order to be eligible for asylum status. Persecution is based on at least one of five statutory grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Immigration officials will not re-adjudicate asylum status. However, the USCIS officer will likely deny adjustment of status and even move to terminate asylum status if there is new evidence that the asylee may not have met the definition of a refugee at the time of the asylum grant. For example, traveling back to the country of feared persecution is one of the most common ways for this to happen.

A derivative asylee must continue to meet the definition of a spouse or child of the principal asylee both at the time of filing Form I-485 and the grant of permanent resident status. If the applicant's marital relationship has ended, the derivative spouse fails to meet this eligibility requirement . Derivative children fail to meet this requirement if they marry or no longer meet the definition of a child (through marriage or by aging out).

An adjustment of status applicant who has firmly resettled in another country is not eligible to obtain either asylum or adjustment of status as an asylee in the United States. The U.S. government considers a person firmly resettled in another country if they have been offered resident status, citizenship, or some other type of permanent resettlement in another country.

An applicant who wants to move from asylum to green card must be admissible at the time USCIS grants the green card. The following grounds of inadmissibility apply to asylees adjusting status:

• Health-Related – INA 212(a)(1)
• Crime-Related – INA 212(a)(2)
• Security-Related – INA 212(a)(3)
• Illegal Entrants and Immigration Violators – INA 212(a)(6)
• Ineligibility for Citizenship – INA 212(a)(8)
• Aliens Previously Removed – INA 212(a)(9)
• Practicing Polygamists, Guardians Required to Accompany Helpless Persons, International Child Abductors, Unlawful Voters, and Former Citizens who Renounced Citizenship to Avoid Taxation – INA 212(a)(10)

The public charge ground of inadmissibility to does apply to immigrants moving from asylum to green card. If you believe that you've lost eligibility due to a divorce or other factor, contact an immigration attorney for additional guidance. In some cases, an attorney can help you navigate these problems.