Lessons Learned from Cases Lost

They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In that spirit, I’d like to discuss some asylum cases that I’ve lost (or at least that were referred by the Asylum Office to the Immigration Court) and why the cases were not successful.

Remember: You can't spell "client" without "lie."
Remember: You can’t spell “client” without “lie.”

I am prompted to write about this topic by a recent, unpleasant experience at the Asylum Office. My client was an Iraqi man who claimed to have been kidnapped by a militia, which targeted him due to his religion. Unfortunately–and despite us directly asking him about his travels–the man failed to tell us that he had been to Jordan and applied for refugee status there through the UN. At the interview, the client again denied that he had ever been to Jordan, but then the Asylum Officer told him, “Service records indicate that you applied for refugee status in Jordan in 2011” (whenever an Asylum Officer begins a sentence with “Service records indicate…”, you know you are in trouble). The client then admitted that he had been in Jordan for a year. At this point, it was obvious to me that things were only going to get worse from there, and so I recommended that the client end the interview immediately, which he did. That is the first time I ever had to end an interview in this way, and, frankly, it is pretty upsetting. The case has now been referred to court, where–if I continue as the attorney–we will have a mess on our hands. So what are the lessons?

First, and most obvious: Don’t lie to your lawyer. In the above example, if the man had told me about his time in Jordan, we could have dealt with it. He didn’t and so we couldn’t. Unfortunately, many immigrants take the advice of their “community” over that of their lawyer. Asylum seekers need to understand the role of the attorney–it is our job to represent you in a process that can be confrontational, and so the government can use information from your past against you. If you don’t tell your lawyer about past problems (especially when he specifically asks you), we cannot help you avoid those problems.

Another lesson is that the U.S. government often knows more than you think they know. If you have crossed a border, it’s likely that the government knows about it. The Asylum Officer will have access to anything that you said during any previous contacts with the U.S. government (including during visa interviews). The Asylum Officer also probably has access to anything you said in interviews with other governments or the United Nations. So if you lied in a prior encounter with the U.S. government or any other government, you’d be well advised to inform your attorney. That way, he can try to mitigate the damage. Also, in asylum cases, where a person lies to obtain a visa in order to escape persecution, the lie is not necessarily fatal to the asylum claim. See Matter of Pula.

A different area where we see clients get into trouble is with family relationships. Sometimes, a client will say he is single when he’s married, or that he has five children when he has two. Of course, if the client listed different relatives on a visa application, the U.S. government will know about it, and the lie will damage the client’s credibility. Why would a client lie about this? The most generous explanation, which has the virtue of being true in some cases, is that the client considers the listed relative to be his child, but there is no formal adoption and the client does not understand the legal niceties of the question. In many societies, people who raise a relative’s child consider that child their own. As long as the client explains the situation and the Asylum Officer doesn’t think the client is trying to hide something, she should be fine, but again, if the client doesn’t tell the lawyer, the lawyer cannot properly prepare the case.

Speaking of family cases and cases where the government knows more than you’d think, I had one case where the woman got married, but did not list the marriage on her asylum form (and did not tell me). In fact, she really did not consider herself married–she signed a marriage contract, but never consummated the marriage, and she seemed to have put it behind her. Unfortunately for her, the Asylum Officer somehow knew that she was married. The result: Her case was denied and referred to court. Had she informed me (and the Asylum Office) that she was married, she likely would have been approved–her brother’s case was approved under the same circumstances. So again, the lesson is that the government may know more than you think they know. 

The bottom line here is that when preparing an asylum application, it is a bad idea to lie. The U.S. government knows a lot. How do they know so much? I don’t know. Maybe ask Edward Snowden. But the point is, if you are filing an asylum application and you are not forthcoming with your responses, you risk losing your case.

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52 comments

  1. How are you? I am from Syria and have been in Libya for ten years. I have a file with the High Commissioner for Refugees. I want help in obtaining asylum in America. I have four children and my wife is pregnant. I have a child who is not heard and is not accepted at school. He is 11 years old. Please help in resettlement

    Reply
    • It is mot something I know about, and so I cannot assist, sorry. Here is a link to one organization that helps with resettlement efforts. It is in Egypt, but maybe they help people in other countries or know of other, similar organizations: http://stars-egypt.org/. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  2. I have applied for an asylum case. In my declaration, I have talked about my Ex- marriage, which was a contract marriage. But I did not mention that it was contract marriage, i presented as it was real. Should i tell them that it was contract marriage. Only reason I did not want them to know that it was contract marriage because I fear that they will reject my application, and It ruin my creadilbility. My marriage applicaton was rejected because i did not have enough evidence to prove my marriage. However the rest of my application is 100% correct.

    What should i do? I dont want to be denied of my asylum application.

    Reply
    • I do not exactly understand the issue – but if the contract marriage was part of your asylum case, you certainly need to explain what it is. Maybe you can explain why you failed to mention that it was a contract marriage. I do think it is better to explain these things before the interview than to wait for the asylum officer to ask you about it, but in your case, I do not really understand what the problem is. So maybe talk to a lawyer about the specifics of your situation and get some advice. Take care, Jason

      Reply
      • This contract marriage is not a part of asylum application. That was something I got myself into before I applied for asylum, basically to get a green card. Adjustment of status/marriage application was denied because of lack of evidence to prove that it was real marriage. But in asylum declearAtion, when you talk about your life in US, I had mention that I was married and divorced but failed tomention thT it was a contract marriage. My fear is that they might think I m applying for asylum solely to earn a green card.

        Reply
        • By “contract marriage” it sounds like you mean fraudulent marriage. If USCIS knows that your marriage was a fraud, it will likely bar you from all relief – including asylum. You might still be eligible for protection under the UN Convention Against Torture, but they take marriage fraud very seriously, so you should be aware about that issue. Take care, Jason

          Reply
        • Hello ! Brother Sam,
          This is my email id ronda.arsema@loanins.org, i would really appreciate if you email me back.
          Thank You.

          Reply
  3. Hello, Thank you for writing this post! I have some similar questions. My fiance and I are apply for a K-1 visa to the US. I am a US citizen and he is a Cambodian citizen. We met in Cambodia in 2015 when I was volunteering with a ministry (he was also volunteering). We stared dating about a month after we met. I went back to the US in Nov 2015 and in March 2016 we decided to apply for a Tourist visa so he could meet my family. Apparently he got some really bad advice from his Christian employers and he lied at his visa interview saying that I was only his friend and that he wanted to visit me. Of course they failed him. I visited him in April-May 2016. Then in August 2016 I accepted a teaching position in Cambodia and moved there short term. I wanted to learn more about his culture and his family. Long distance was hard on us. Well he proposed in October 2016 after our 1 year anniversary. We’ve now been engaged for 6 months and we have decided to apply for a K-1 visa. I am terrified since he lied on his last interview involving me saying that I was his friend and now we’re engaged. Do you have any advice for us? I’m so stressed. I’m ready to go to the US and I want to marry him there and I want him to meet my family. Any advice helps!! Thank you!

    Reply
    • I only provide advice here based on asylum. However, I have seen such cases and he may need an I-601 waiver. Also, it can cause delays (sometimes, quite long). I recommend you talk to a lawyer about the case and see what you can do, but I am afraid it is very likely he will need the waiver. Good luck, Jason

      Reply
  4. hello jason
    thank you for such a helpful blog. i have a few question.
    we (me and my husband)had our interview recently
    we had our attorney with us during interview too, but we flee from our country and we asked a agency to get a visa for us, but the agency filled all our application with false information and we didn’t know about this till the day prior to visa interview; so they made us to tell lie to get the visa, after we came to us we hire an attorney and explain our case and all interview thing, and he said it is not a big deal just be honest .so we filed our asylum application with true information .the day before interview i asked our attorney what should we do if they ask about visa interview things and he said they know every one who is running from their country might tell lie to obtain visa, and dont worry they will not ask you any thing. but in the interview day we told all true information the officer interviewed me in another room and my husband too,we have told we have a kid and iam a lab doctor! (the agency made us to do that) while iam engineer, so i answer all question about kid and my degree honestly and gave the officer all my degrees and translation. and i told all visa story too,
    so far we are still waiting for decision,
    would you please give me an idea what could happen and in case if they refer us to immigration court will we be able to stay legal and update our work permit?
    thank you so much and god bless you

    Reply
    • You can renew your work permit as long as the case is pending. It seems to me that you did the right thing in answering honestly (and your lawyer gave you good advice, except that it is very common for officers to ask about lies on visa applications). There is a case called Matter of Pula that basically says lying on your visa application does not block you from asylum if you are fleeing your country to save your life, so the lies should not block you from asylum. The fact that you told the truth should be considered a positive factor, I think. If your case is sent to court, you can continue to renew the work permit. Hopefully, you will get a good result. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  5. Hi
    any body know about the asylum in US. i just deniaded from asylum office they reffereal me to the imagration jugde.
    1- if any one know what can i do?
    2- and can i marrige despite of in my case i am marreg but i amonly here without my wife and i have not met or seen her more than three years ago ?

    Reply
    • If your case goes to court, you should talk to a lawyer to guide you through the process. It is very difficult to win a court case without a lawyer. As for marriage, maybe you can marry a US citizen to get your green card, but it depends on whether you are eligible to do that. If you are already married, you would need the prior marriage to be legally ended before you marry someone in the US. Otherwise, that is illegal (bigamy) and is a basis for deporting you. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  6. My application was lost by either the post office or the asylum office, what do l do, reapply? and do l have reasonable grounds to cntest the 180 clock since it was not my fault they lost the application?

    Reply
    • I think you should first check with your local office to make sure that it was, in fact, lost. You can find their contact info if you follow the link at right called Asylum Office Locator. Also, make sure you sent it to the correct address in the first place. If it truly is lost, you will need to resubmit it with an explanation about what happened. I doubt that you will be able to get credit for the lost time towards your work permit, but you can ask. Also, if you resubmit, make sure you use certified mail so you have a record that it as sent. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  7. my name is owen and i have been living in danmark for 6 yrs i fled my country due to a rape case that i was falsely accused and tried with utmost impunity from the police and justice system. i was arrested with no evidence and when i cried for my innocence the police tried to coarse (beatings imprisonment and pyhcological torture) me to accept the crime in which i refused while offering to do any sort of test to clear my name. initially they claimed that i and 4 other boys forcefully draged her into our compound and the said persons including my elder brother were and a couple of my friends where no where near the house when she came( a fact i begged the police to look into but they never did. they never visited the said scene of the crime no investigation was done whatsoever no rape kit. they asked for 50000ksh for her treatment claiming that i had given her an STD and ritght there and then i knew i had them. i was a virgin(still am due to fear of being in the same room as any woman) only i was arrested and put through 1 and half years of court procedings. i had no lawyer(advise from the prosecutor and case magistrate) i was virtually at the hands of a justice system that took advantage to extort money from us being that the case was so weak and to make matters worse they advised my father after asking for a bribe that i came to find out afterwards to dismiss a case with the worst form of maliciousness and kept us in the dark on how to defend ourselves.i won the case after so many innconsistencies on their part due to the fact they had an innitial story and they got a hold of my statement so they tried to doctor it to disqualify any witnesses i could call with the help of a police officer who declared himself the judge and jury in my case. but at the back of my mind i feared that if any1 was to find out i would go to jail for sure. the accusers began threatening my life and the fact that they colluded with the police and the justice system screwd us my life turned into hell i feard going to the police still suffering the injustice of people who lied to extort money from us but i stood firm to claim my innocence. i became afraid and i couldnt trust any1 so i fled to botswana and later to europe after 6months struggle. i lied in fear i would b handed over to the kenyan authorities so i erased my identity and became a street child from tanzania. i want to tell the truth but am afraid of how they would react because i have to leave the country and for the life of me id rather die than hand myself over to the most corrupt tribal country in africa in my opinion,,,,please advice.i was 18 at the time am now 27

    Reply
    • I am in the US and I can only provide advice for people seeking asylum here. Good luck, Jason

      Reply
      • am just looking for a learned opinion from any1 with some experience so if possible give it please….any1.

        Reply
  8. Thank you for writing this article!

    I’ve been living in the US for three years now on an H1B visa but had just lost my job. My home country is Sudan (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/) , and I am afraid to go back there as I recently came out as bisexual. Do you think the US can accept a case like mine of seeking asylum?

    Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    Reply
    • We have successfully represented LGBT asylum seekers from Sudan, so it certainly is possible. Of course, it depends on facts of your case. You must decide very soon, though. A person is required to file for asylum within one year of arriving in the US. One exception to that rule is that you are in the US in legal status. Your status has expired and it sounds like you have been here more than one year. This means, if you do not file very soon, the government may consider your application as late, which will prevent you from getting asylum. If you are not sure whether you want to apply, I recommend that you talk to a lawyer as soon as possible to help you make a decision. You do not want to have your application denied because of the one-year bar, and so if you plan to file, you should do it as soon as possible. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  9. hi Jason,
    my interview will be within 2 weeks, I didnt mention in my declaration that I have been in Turkey and applied for asylum through UN before 5 years, i didnt even make an interview with the UN, it was just an initial interview for registration (the procedure of UN in Turkey Requires 3 interviews after the registration , one with UN, next one with ICMC, and the last one with USCIS “in case the UN referred you to USA”).
    I stayed there waiting for 1st interview for one year, then I returned back to my home country due to noticeable improvement in security situation.
    So, please advise, if they asked me what you were doing in Turkey (because its clear in my passport), what should be the answer?

    Reply
    • I would not wait for them to ask. I would prepare an explanation, with any evidence you have (including evidence of improved country conditions – maybe letters from people who know about this), and I would submit it prior to the interview. If they suspect you are trying to hide this travel, it is very likely that your case will be denied. Good luck with the interview, Jason

      Reply
  10. Hi there,
    I have one question about asylum case. I am a Muslim. And I was born in Sunni family than later I lived in community with majority of Shia people. After spending some years I became interested in Shia Islam. Soon after that I went to Shia worship places and participated in other Shia religious seminaries. So finally I became Shia Muslim. I travelled to Europe and upon arrival in my initial interview with immigration. When they asked me about personal details then I told my native religion instead of Shia Islam.
    So now I am waiting for second interview I am worried if in second interview if I tell them I am a Shia converted. Will that be alright. Thanks

    Reply
    • I think you will need to explain how you converted and why you gave your native religion when they asked you in Europe. You might also want to get some evidence about this – letters from people who knew you and your family were Sunni, and letters from people who knew you when you were attending the Shia mosque. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  11. Hello,
    Thanks for your useful web site.
    I have a question:
    My niece claimed asylum in 2010,in the UK,and she lied on his asylum application,and told many lied to some people,so those people believed her and went to the court of appeal to be her witnesses,so they gave evidences ,so her appeal was allowed,she got leave to remain.I discovered all her lies step by step,I asked her to report everything but she refused,she got angry and took a knife and tried to kill me,she told me if I open my mouth she will kill me,so I fled the UK,and was hiding abroad about 2 years,I came back to the UK,
    can you please tell me what to do in this case?I already have written to the Immigration office and also to the uk state secreatry,and my niece went back to the country which she told to fled because she was in trouble,which was a lie,and visited her family and friends and came back without any problems,I reported this case in 2004 and so far nothing is happened.

    Can you please tell me what to do?I do know you’re working in The USA,not the UK.

    regards
    Akso

    Reply
    • I do not know about the rules or procedures in the UK. You should talk to a lawyer there. Good luck, Jason

      Reply
  12. Hi

    My name is Rayka and i asked asylum in australia, i came by boat and i am living in community for more than 3 years, immigration sent forms for applying asylum seekers, i filled the forms by myself, are you advising i send them to immigration or i get advise from lawyer.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • I only do asylum cases in the US, so I cannot advise you about Australia. Sorry, Jason

      Reply
  13. I have a question please: can you tell me what will happen if your ex husband says that you are lying about your threat in your country, during your divorce procedure because he is mad at you. But he was on your asylum application.

    Reply
    • If USCIS gets that information, it certainly could affect whether they believe you are telling them the truth. I do not think they will get it from the divorce proceeding, but if your ex-husband sends them a letter, they will have it. You should gather evidence that he is lying and trying to harm you through the divorce case. In that way, if needed, you can present it to USCIS to show his bias. Also, you may want to contact the local asylum office, give them the divorce decree, and try to remove him from your case. Contact info for the asylum office can be found if you follow the link at right called Asylum Office Locator. Take care, Jason

      Reply
  14. I applied for asylum in NYC in 2013 and my case was denied at interview and referred to IJ. I have an individual hearing on June 14. I have married a girl who overstayed her visa because we were in love and our baby is due on June 10. What will be the possible scenario? She might not be able to attend the hearing with me (she was not on my i-589 but we are a family now) because she will most likely be delivering baby or at the hospital after the delivery.

    Reply
    • You may want to add her to your case, depending on the circumstances. If this is your first hearing, it is a Master Calendar Hearing, and it only takes a few minutes. Usually, the Judge will ask if you want more time to find a lawyer, and you can request more time. It is very helpful to have a lawyer in court. Good luck, Jason

      Reply
  15. But there is NO question in the I-589 application asking about “if the applicant or any of his family members were applied for asylum in the UN”
    The question related to asylum in the US, and if they have any legal status in any other country other than the US.

    So no need to mention the previous request for asylum through UN.
    Just you must declare that in case they asked you in the interview.

    Reply
    • That is debatable – Question 2B in Part C (page 7) asks whether you or a family member have ever applied for lawful status in any country. One could argue that the UN is not a country, so you do not have to mention it. However, in my experience, an applicant is much safer being over-inclusive rather than interpreting the questions in a narrow way (because it looks like you are hiding something). I would counsel a client who has applied to the UN for refugee status to mention it in the form or – at the minimum – in the affidavit. In any case, the client I am talking about here was asked directly at the interview and denied it. That was a bad idea…

      Reply
  16. what if someone lied about being persecuted in their home country for being a homosexual and they were granted asylum and have since become a citizen?

    Reply
    • If the lie is discovered, they could be de-naturalized and put into removal (deportation) proceedings. It is unlikely, but certainly possible.

      Reply
  17. Dear Jason,
    Thanks for a thoughtful blog.
    I wouldn’t be so sure about your ‘third country’ legislation not passing. This is exactly the system we have in the EU. UK can send asylum seekers back to countries on the way, which are part of the agreement (Dublin II Regulation (EC) 343/2003), for the person to continue their claim there, or suffer the consequences of having lost there.
    There are caveats – close relatives being in the UK, for example. We have many cases arguing that the UK should not return people to Greece/Italy because the conditions for asylum seekers there are poor to dire – in particular, many claims are not even processed.
    Of course the EU shares the info, so our clients who lie about where they came through get caught out every time.

    Reply
    • Probably you are correct – Actually, the legislation will probably be passed in the House and maybe the Senate, but I expect it would be vetoed by the President. Even if it passes, given our geography, I don’t know if such legislation would be as effective as it is in the UK, but it certainly will add another layer of complication to a process that is already fairly complicated.

      Reply
  18. As an immigration attorney, I have a few more things to add:

    1. As an asylum applicant/non-immigrant, you do not have rights. No, you don’t have the “right” to speed up the interview date, no, you do not have the “right” to expedite your Immigration Court Individual Hearing, no you do not have the “right” to Asylum based upon your subjective feelings of your situation. You have the privilege of staying in the United States without being removed or deported until your court date. This is not criminal court. Yes, your Individual Hearing can be put out for 3 years. And no, you do not have a “right” to a work permit.

    2. I notice that with Asylum clients, and my criminal defense clients, it usually takes them about 3 rounds for them to finally tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I give them 2 free passes, the first because, well, I can’t exactly review all their documentation at the consultation or right before the Arraignment. The second because of real misunderstandings. And the third time they usually tell me the whole truth. It’s all about relationship building.

    3. No, Obama did not pass any laws to help you. No, Obama did not grant amnesty to illegal aliens. No, deferred deportation is not the same as getting a green card. No, you are not the targeted demographic of deferred deportation because, well, you came into this country legally. The laws hate you. You can thank the Federal Government for that.

    4. No, you cannot just fill out a sheet of paper and “sponsor” someone to get their green card. You can file an I-130 petition for specific relatives.

    Reply
    • It would probably be better for me not to say how much I agree with number 1, as it may not go over well with potential clients. Therefore, I will say nothing.

      Reply
  19. Ironically, I often use a client’s relative affluence in their own country to strengthen their case and prove that their motives for seeking asylum are genuine. Most of my clients couldn’t even get U.S. visas without showing adequate assets in their home countries, and when they come here they suddenly drop several strata in society. I argue that, if they could live safely in their own country, wouldn’t they rather be in the upper class of their society than at the bottom here in the U.S.? It’s also a means to rule them out as economic refugees seeking U.S. benefits, which frankly is the initial unspoken assumption about the average third world applicant. The sooner that can be overcome, the better.

    Reply
    • Interesting approach. I have generally shied away from that as I thought it might come across as disingenuous, but it sounds like it is working, so I may give it a try as well (sorry to be a copycat – I am not known for my originality!).

      Reply
    • I like this approach as well. Or at least if they’re on student visas and are planning to do OPT I always argue that my clients are not going to be a burden to the government and ask for handouts, that they want to find a job and work and be productive.

      Reply
  20. Great article. I’m curious; what’s the logic behind ending the interview? Trying to keep the bad record that gets sent to the immigration court as short as possible? Could there be an advantage to playing it the other way, and trying to get a peek at as many of the government’s cards as you can?

    It can be difficult for us as Americans to cross the empathy gap and think like asylum applicants, who almost always come from countries where lying to the government is an absolutely essential survival skill. Where the first question that comes to your mind when the government asks a question is “How will they use this information to victimize me? What answer will make it least likely that this government agent will subject me to extortion, arrest, or torture?” And even if we can, getting them to think like us is even more of a challenge, especially if they come from places where most lawyers can’t be trusted, or can be tortured for information.

    Reply
    • I 100% agree with you about asylum seekers and their view of government (and lawyers). It is part of the process to train them to trust the US government enough to answer questions, and this can be challenging. In my case–and I did not write about this in the article and can’t say much about it here–it appeared that one inconsistency was about to become many, and I wanted to stop the interview before that happened. I had a similar problem once before, but not as bad, and I let that one play out. In that case, she ended up with asylum, but this case was different.

      Reply
  21. We have the same problem in Europe, too. EU countries share all this information (and fingerprints) with each other.

    One of the issues that comes up the most here in Ireland is the lack of full disclosure about manner of travel. There are almost no direct flights between Ireland and refugee-producing countries, so pretty much everyone has to transit through somewhere. Instead of saying where, they often say they didn’t know where they were, their agent held all their documents and they didn’t have to pass through immigration until they arrived at Dublin Airport – all of which is extremely unlikely. By law this cannot be fatal on its own to their credibility, but it is a factor that can be taken into consideration, and usually is. I wish asylum seekers understood that it is OK to say you passed through Named Country X and followed your agent to Ireland.

    Reply
    • Interesting. I have not seen that exact problem here, even for people who pass through many countries (usually, we provide a recitation of each country they passed through and sometimes it is a long list). By the way, my family and I may be in Ireland this summer. Maybe I should look you up and see how asylum is done on the civilized side of the pond.

      Reply
      • Please do, it would be interesting to compare notes. Though I warn you you’ll be disappointed if you expect a civilised approach to asylum here!

        Reply
    • In the UK the argument about someone having to have been able to claim asylum somewhere else first, during their trip, is often put up. I’m not an asylum lawyer but work with asylum seekers and know what they’re being told by the Home Office. One issue is that most of those claiming asylum here come in lorries, hidden in secret compartments, and follow the instructions of their agents to the letter. They don’t want to get caught on the journey, nor to do anything which might cause a problem for their agent, and consequently for their own relatives back home – a threat agents often make. If they actually put their feet on the ground in a country before the UK they are usually simply being transferred from one vehicle to another in the dead of night and so have no real chance of making an asylum claim at the time.
      The Home Office interviewers often seem to have absolutely no comprehension of what people in awful situations are prepared to do in order to find safety, and they still trot out arguments about economic migration etc because they have no concept of arriving in a country with absolutely no idea what systems await you, having followed the instructions of a stranger on the way. There is this assumption that it’s all carefully planned and thought through. Maybe one day someone will understand…

      Reply
      • The journeys and risks people take are really quite extraordinary. I had an idea to collect some of my clients’ stories and then make a book about them, but of course I don’t have the time. Interesting that in the US, the Republican Congress has just introduced a bill to allow the US to return asylum seekers to a country that they passed through where they could have sought asylum. As you might say over there, it is rubbish and it has no chance to pass, but it shows that the mentality you describe is pretty ubiquitous.

        Reply
  22. Great article. I was wincing as I read through it, because I think I’ve encountered almost every “lie” that you have. (And I’m only a volunteer working with asylum seekers!)

    I think one interesting thing is that asylum seekers come to the asylum process with their own set of assumptions about what is going to help them get asylum.

    For example, last year I was working on the statement of a Syrian family who were claiming asylum at a consulate in Egypt. As I was working on the statement, I asked a couple of questions about the family’s income level. The man I was talking to hedged for a while and then said, “Well…we had money, but I think we just want to say we were poor”.

    It turned out that, somewhat rationally, he thought that if the family was wealthy they wouldn’t get asylum. I explained that the fact that all the children of the family were journalists, IT specialists and accountants kind of gave the game away as to their social status, and that being poor or rich didn’t matter. I also explained that being exposed as liars was really the issue…even if what he was lying about wasn’t material to the asylum claim.

    It was a really good lesson in being aware of the preconceptions that applicants have about the asylum process. Anyway, really interesting article, loved it, and I hope things work out OK for your Iraqi client. (I once sat through a refugee tribunal hearing with a guy claiming to be from Zimbabwe who couldn’t describe the national flat or quote from the antham…awkward).

    Reply
    • Thank you for the comment. It is really a shame to see people with good cases lie about things that are irrelevant, and it hurts the case. If they just told the truth, it could avoid many problems. So it goes. Also, by the way, it is great to hear from people who are volunteering to help asylum seekers. Although some of the cases are problematic, many of these applicants really need the help – so keep up the good work! Take care, Jason

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