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ILT MAGAZINE
How to Make the Asylum Officer Love Your Client (and You) Before Setting Foot In their Office By Brian Manning, Esq.
There’s
nothing an Asylum Officer loves more than a well-prepared asylum application packet. A filing that shows the officer how to get to “yes” in the easiest, most direct way possible can do wonders for your client’s affirmative asylum case.
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Brian Manning, Esq.
brian@manningasylumlaw.com
ILT MAGAZINE
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ISSUE NO.
01
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Being an Asylum Officer is difficult. They’re overworked – expectations for case completion can border on the ridiculous – and distressing stories of suffering are heard all day, everyday. This can take a toll on them whether they believe an applicant or think they’re being lied to. It’s no wonder that morale has been low in the asylum corps for years. Officers rarely last more than two years before moving along professionally.
You can make their pain your client’s advantage.
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But you can make their pain your client’s advantage. It’s precisely because the job can be such a grind that a wellconstructed asylum case, that makes the officer’s life easy, has the power to move the needle in a meaningful way. It predisposes the officer to like your client’s case. In my experience as a former Asylum Officer, that makes a grant of asylum more likely.
A properly prepared case that essentially does the officer’s job for them makes a difference. You really can set the stage for your client so that they walk into the interview with the officer that is all but ready to grant
There is perhaps no more frustrating part of an Asylum Officer’s job than updating and correcting the Form I-589 at the time of the interview.
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asylum, notwithstanding a deluge of inconsistent statements by the applicant during the interview. Here’s how to manage the five main components of an asylum application to give your client an edge:
(1) Application Form
The Form I-589 is actually the least important aspect of your client’s case, but you still have to do it right. Ensure that every box/space contains an answer (if only “N/A”), and answer the substantive questions and subquestions with full sentences that are actually responsive; don’t just say “see personal statement” or the like. Give the officer enough information in the application itself to at least understand the thrust of the claim.
