Many people wonder if they should use an 庇护律师 when filing for asylum. Generally, asylum is a fairly straightforward process, but if not done correctly, it could create devastating consequences. First, it is important to understand what an asylum attorney can do for you. Generally, when filing for asylum, there are about 4 things that need to be completed. You need to fill out your I-589 form, you need to write a story about yourself, you need to gather primary and secondary evidence for your case, and you need to have a complete and thorough human rights and country condition analysis.
At first glance, this may seem like a lot of things to complete, and it is. What can an asylum attorney do for you during these stages? For the I-589, your asylum lawyer knows what needs to go in each box of the form. Some insider knowledge helps as well, such as always typing in your last name in CAPS. The USCIS and the asylum office like this better and it helps them realize that your case has been evaluated by an asylum pro. Your asylum attorney can also find issues in your case by helping you fill out the form. The forms questions are very targeted and each speak to statutory guidelines created by congress and federal agencies. Therefore, if you answer one of those questions incorrectly, it could mean your case will be denied. You need to be very careful with the I-589 form and your lawyer can provide a level of expertise that gives you piece of mind knowing your form is complete and done as good as possible.
After the form, a lawyer can be extremely useful when writing your story. Lawyers are experts at highlighting important facts and diminishing the impact of a harmful fact. In other words, if you have something that should be emphasized, your asylum attorney will know exactly how to bring it out and give it its full impact. To the contrary, if you have a fact that could be damaging to your case, he will know exactly how to diminish the impact by mentioning it but surrounding it with other facts so as not to highlight the negative fact. After your story, your lawyer will also help you put together evidence for your case. Your asylum lawyer will suggest you find pictures, Facebook posts, notes, letters, bank statements, and statements and/or affidavits.
Your Lawyer will tell you which ones are good and which ones add no value. The last thing you want to do is send the asylum office a bunch of photos and documents that add no value and make the asylum officer. Lastly, your asylum lawyer will put together a comprehensive country condition and human rights report that relates directly to your case. It is important the that the human rights reports are not just reports about the country, but rather reports that relate directly to the clients case. Really experienced and expert attorneys may even write a report on the reports, compiling all of the important case-relating quotes into one easy to read document for the asylum officer. Overall, using an asylum attorney will drastically improve your changes of gaining asylum.
