News Update - April 25, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.

One-Year Asylum Filing Deadline Clarifications

Asylum applicants must apply for asylum within one year of their arrival to the United States. The date of arrival does not count toward the one-year period. That means if the date of arrival is April 21, 2008 an applicant has until April 21, 2009 to file. Minasyan v. Mukasey, 553 F.3d 1224 (9th Cir., 2008). Also, if the one-year deadline date falls on a weekend or holiday the actual deadline date is the end of the day following the weekend or holiday. The application must be mailed by that date. Jorgji v. Mukasey, 514 F.3d 53 (1st Cir., 2008). This one-year period for filing an asylum application is calculated from the applicant’s “last arrival” to the United States. The term “last arrival” means the most recent arrival to the United States even after traveling outside of the United States. Matter of F-P-R- 24 I&N Dec. 681 (BIA 2008). Litigation Clearinghouse Newsletter, American Immigration Law Foundation, Legal Action Center, Vol. 4, No. 5 (April 17, 2009).


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2009 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

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