Can You Still File for Asylum After the One-Year Deadline?

If you entered the United States without inspection (for example, by crossing the border unlawfully), you generally must file for asylum within one year of your arrival. If you entered lawfully, such as with a B-2 visitor visa or F-1 student visa, the one-year period starts from the date your status (I-94) expires.

What should you do if, for various reasons, you did not file within this time limit?

The One-Year Deadline for Asylum Applications

When calculating the one-year deadline, for an affirmative asylum application (not in removal proceedings), USCIS must receive the application by your one-year anniversary of entry or by your visa expiration date; if that date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it is extended to the next business day.

For example, if you entered on June 4, 2023, USCIS must receive your asylum application on or before June 4, 2024. Minors and unaccompanied children may apply for asylum before turning 18.

If you fail to file by the deadline and cannot prove that you qualify for one of the exceptions described below, the asylum officer will refer your case to an immigration judge. You may renew your application in immigration court, and the judge may hear your explanation.

If you apply for asylum after removal proceedings have begun, you must still file within one year of entry or within one year of your visa expiration, and your application will be submitted directly to the immigration court rather than to USCIS. This is called a defensive asylum application.

How to Prove You Filed Within One Year

Your asylum application must include the following:

• Clear and convincing evidence: proof that your last entry into the United States or your status expiration (I-94 expiration) occurred within one year before you filed the asylum application, or that you were not in the United States during the one year before filing, or

• Satisfactory evidence: proof that you experienced changed circumstances that materially affect your eligibility for asylum and filed within a reasonable time after the change, or that you experienced extraordinary circumstances directly related to the delay and filed within a reasonable time given those circumstances.

Forms of evidence that may be used include: your own testimony (if USCIS finds you credible, your testimony alone may suffice), relevant documents (such as passport stamps, boarding passes, leases, receipts), statements from other witnesses, and so on.

Clear and convincing evidence means evidence that firmly convinces one that your statements are true. That is, you must prove with a high degree of certainty that you filed within one year of your last entry. Satisfactory evidence means you persuade the asylum officer or immigration judge with reliable evidence that you meet an exception, including the following two.

The Changed Circumstances Exception

You must prove that due to changed circumstances in your personal life, in conditions in the United States, or in conditions in your home country, there was a material impact on your asylum eligibility, and that you filed within a reasonable time after the change occurred or after you became aware of it. For example:

• When you first entered the United States, you were not afraid to return home, but now you are—because when you left, your home country did not persecute people like you, but it has now begun to do so.

• After leaving your home country, you began engaging in political or religious activities that now put you at risk of persecution.

• U.S. asylum law has changed, and while you were previously ineligible, you are now eligible to apply for asylum.

• Your relationship with the principal asylum applicant (such as a spouse or parent) has ended, and you now need to apply on your own.

The Extraordinary Circumstances Exception

You need to prove that some extraordinary events occurred in your life before or after arriving in the United States that directly caused you to fail to file within one year, and that you filed within a reasonable time after the extraordinary circumstances ceased to affect you. You also need to prove that these extraordinary circumstances were not intentionally caused by you. For example:

• You suffered from a serious mental or medical illness during this period.

• Your immediate family member or legal guardian died or became seriously ill.

• You were legally disabled or incapacitated during the one-year filing period.

• Other personal factors so extreme that they affected your ability to file on time, such as extreme isolation within the immigrant community, strong family opposition to applying for asylum, or severe cultural and language barriers.

• Your attorney, notary, or a scammer you encountered provided ineffective assistance that directly caused the delay in filing.

• You were in lawful status for at least part of the one-year filing period, such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

• Your application was filed within one year but was returned for correction and then resubmitted more than one year after your arrival.

You Still Must File Within a Reasonable Time

Even if an exception applies, you must still prove that you filed your asylum application within a reasonable period after the exception ended or ceased to affect you. The asylum officer and immigration judge will consider your circumstances, including the specific events that caused your delay, as well as other factors, such as:

• When the exceptional circumstances occurred or when you learned of them

• Your educational background and language skills

• The time needed to obtain legal assistance

• Ongoing physical or emotional effects of the persecution you suffered

Finally, even if an exception applies, the longer your delay, the harder it will be to convince the asylum officer or immigration judge. Therefore, you should file your asylum application as soon as circumstances permit.