Despite the general rule that an asylum application must be filed within one year of the last arrival to the United States, there are several situations where the law allows for an asylum application to be filed even after many years of being in the country.

If there are extraordinary circumstances that prevented the applicant from filing for asylum within one year, or changed circumstances that put an applicant more in danger than they were in the past, they can still apply for asylum even if it has been more than one year since their last entry to the United States.

If an applicant wants to show that he or she was prevented from filing within one year of their entry because of extraordinary circumstances, they will have to tell the officer or the immigration judge what the circumstances were, how those circumstances were related to causing a delay in filing, and show that the delay was reasonable.

Some examples of extraordinary circumstances could be:

• (1) applicant’s serious mental or physical disability during the one year period after the US arrival;
• (2) death or serious health issues of applicant’s immediate family member or attorney;
• (3) if the applicant was a minor during the one year after arrival to the US or had any other “legal” disability;
• (4) applicant was under TPS or any other visa status during the one year after arrival;
• (5) applicant filed for asylum within one year of US arrival, but immigration sent it back because of a mistake; or
• (6) if they received ineffective or wrong legal advice which prevented them from filing within one year of their last US arrival.

Some examples of changed circumstances which could excuse the one-year asylum filing deadline are:

• (1) changes in the applicant’s personal situation. For example. the applicant might have become more politically active in the United States than they were before, which could place their life in danger in their home country. Or the applicant could have converted their religion from one to another, which creates danger for them at home.
• (2) There could also be changed circumstances in applicant’s home country which excuse the delay in filing for asylum. For example, a new government might have come into power who is hostile to others of the applicant’s ethnic background or profession.  
• (3) Another changed personal circumstance might arise when the applicant gets divorced from their spouse who had filed an application, or the applicant was a child on their parent’s application and has gotten married. In these situations, they would not be able to benefit from their spouse’s or parent’s applications, and are permitted to file their own, even if they have been in the United States for more than a year.  

Filing for asylum is complicated, especially if the applicant has been in the United States for more than a year since their last entry.  We have handled many applications for applicants in several of these scenarios. If you have any questions about whether you might be eligible for asylum even though you have been in the United States for several years, feel free to call us at (415) 895-0661.