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Asylum Lawyer in Chicago and Oak Brook
Asylum is for people who cannot safely go home. There is a filing deadline — generally one year from your last arrival — and it is the single thing most often missed. Free consultation. Se habla español.
Asylum protects people who have been persecuted, or fear persecution, because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group. It is one of the few parts of immigration law where the question is not what you have done but what would happen to you if you were sent back.
It is also unforgiving about timing. Before anything else on this page, read the next section.
The one-year deadline
USCIS puts it plainly: you must apply for asylum within one year of the date of your last arrival in the United States. The application is Form I-589.
There are exceptions, and they are narrower than people hope. You must show either changed circumstances that materially affect your eligibility, or extraordinary circumstances relating to the delay — and that you then filed within a reasonable time given those circumstances. Conditions worsening in your home country can be a changed circumstance. Serious illness can be an extraordinary one. Not knowing about the deadline is generally neither.
If you are close to a year from your arrival, or past it, that is the first thing to tell us when you call. It changes what we do first.
Two routes, and which one you are on
Which process you are in is decided by whether the government has already started removal proceedings against you — not by choice.
Affirmative. If you are physically in the United States and not in removal proceedings, you file Form I-589 with USCIS. That leads to what USCIS calls a non-adversarial interview with an asylum officer: there is no government lawyer arguing against you.
Defensive. If you are already in removal proceedings, asylum is raised as a defense against removal before an immigration judge at EOIR — an adversarial, court-like hearing, with a government lawyer on the other side. If that is your situation, read our removal defense page as well, because the case is a court case first.
The distinction matters more than almost anything else about preparation, which is why we ask at the first call whether you have been served with a Notice to Appear.
What the application actually has to show
Asylum turns on evidence and on credibility, and the two are connected. You need a coherent account of what happened, and wherever possible material that corroborates it: medical records, police or court documents, membership records, letters, news reporting and country-conditions evidence about your home country.
The most common avoidable problem is not a weak story but an inconsistent record — a detail in the I-589 that contradicts something said at the border years earlier, or a date that does not match a document. We go through the whole file before anything is filed. Joe's article on this is the supporting evidence that matters.
If asylum is not available: withholding and CAT
Where the one-year deadline has passed, or a bar applies, two related forms of protection may still be open — withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. They are harder to win and give you less if you do: no path to a green card, and no ability to bring family. But they are protection, and they are not subject to the same one-year rule. See asylum versus withholding of removal.
Working while you wait
Be careful here, because this is widely misunderstood: asylum applicants are not authorized to work unless they meet certain requirements. Filing an asylum application does not by itself give you permission to work. Working without authorization causes problems of its own.
There are two dates, and they are not the same date. Under 8 CFR 208.7(a)(1) you may file Form I-765, the work permit application, no earlier than 150 days after a complete asylum application is received. USCIS may not grant that permit until the asylum application has been pending 180 days. Any delay you request or cause does not count toward either period, so a missed interview or a rescheduled hearing can push both dates back.
Day 180 is the earliest USCIS may approve, not a date by which it will. The card still has to be processed after that. And if asylum is granted, the right to work comes with the status itself rather than with the card. We walk through the clock in more detail in can asylum seekers work legally in the US (en español).
A change has been proposed, and it is not law. In February 2026 the Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule that would make applicants wait 365 days before filing for a work permit, and let USCIS stop accepting these applications in some situations. As of October 27, 2026 it is only a proposal: the 150-day and 180-day periods above still apply. We will update this page if it becomes final.
The annual asylum fee: pay it when you are billed
Federal law now charges an annual fee for each year an asylum application stays pending, and missing it can cost you the application. Under a USCIS rule in effect since May 29, 2026, if you do not pay within 30 days of being notified, USCIS rejects your pending application. It also denies any pending work permit based on that application and ends one already approved, and if you have no other lawful status it can start removal proceedings.
In immigration court, the Board of Immigration Appeals held in Matter of L-F-R-, 29 I&N Dec. 787 (BIA 2026), that an asylum application can be pretermitted or treated as abandoned if the fee is not paid by the deadline. Withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture claims are not affected. We do not print the amount here because it is adjusted; the current figure is on USCIS’s fee schedule. Keep your mailing address current with USCIS and the court, open every notice, and call us the day a fee notice arrives.
How we work these cases
We take the history first and the paperwork second — entries and exits, any prior applications, any contact with immigration or the police, and what actually happened to you. Then we decide what can be corroborated, what needs to be explained, and which route you are on. The official overview is USCIS's Obtaining Asylum in the United States.
Consultations are free and we take cases in Spanish. Call 630.928.0100 or book a time online. Related: when an asylum lawyer can help, VAWA self-petitions and U visas for people harmed in the United States, and about Joe.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Requirements described here were checked against USCIS in September 2026, the employment-authorization periods against 8 CFR 208.7 and the Federal Register in October 2026, and the annual-fee rules against USCIS and the Board of Immigration Appeals in October 2026; immigration law changes often.
Frequently asked
Questions we hear most.
I have been here more than a year. Is it too late?
Not necessarily, but it is the first thing to get advice on. The one-year rule has exceptions for changed circumstances that materially affect eligibility, and for extraordinary circumstances that explain the delay — and in either case you must have filed within a reasonable time once they applied. Whether yours fits is fact-specific. If it does not, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture are not subject to the same rule.
What is the difference between the affirmative and defensive processes?
Whether removal proceedings have already been started against you. Not in proceedings: you file Form I-589 with USCIS and attend a non-adversarial interview with an asylum officer. Already in proceedings: asylum is raised as a defense before an immigration judge, in an adversarial hearing with a government lawyer opposing you. You do not choose which one you are in.
Can I work while my asylum application is pending?
Not automatically, and not straight away. Filing for asylum does not by itself authorize you to work. Under 8 CFR 208.7(a)(1) you may apply for a work permit no earlier than 150 days after a complete asylum application is received, and USCIS may not grant it until the application has been pending 180 days. Delays you request or cause do not count toward either period. Do not work without authorization — ask at the consultation.
Can my family be included?
Depending on the facts, a spouse and unmarried children may be able to be included or to follow. Which relatives qualify and when depends on the stage your case is at and on their own circumstances, so bring details of your whole family to the consultation rather than only your own.
What if I was already denied?
A denial by an asylum officer is not necessarily the end — an affirmative case that is not granted is commonly referred to an immigration judge, who considers it afresh. If an immigration judge has denied you, there are appeal deadlines that are strict. Bring every document you were given and call promptly.
Do you take cases in Spanish?
Yes. The consultation and the case can be handled in Spanish, and several of our guides are written in Spanish rather than translated into it.
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