Why “Asylum” is not a viable option for South Africans seeking legal immigration to the United States.

So much false information and fables floating around, that the Saitus Team, do not consider Asylum as a viable option for South Africans seeking legal immigration to the United States.

What is the definition of Asylum?

According to the Oxford English dictionary, Asylum is the protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee.

What is the stance of the USCIS on Asylum?

CLICK HERE for more details on the USCIS’s website regarding this topic.

Facts:

As stated in “The Department of Homeland Security. Immigration Yearbook. Retrieved Jan 16, 2024” (click here) the last ten years, since 2013, there have only been 56 cases where Asylum has been granted affirmatively to South Africans.

56 Cases over 10 years means 5.6 cases per year.

In 2022 there were 6 cases where Asylum was granted Affirmatively.

For Context, in the same year (2022), 263 individuals were granted Permanent Legal Residency (Green Cards) via the Diversity Visa program (DV Lottery).

That means you were 43.84 times more likely to be selected AND successfully processed for the DV Lottery in that year. (You can verify the statistics in The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Yearbook referenced above.)

So that’s why we don’t talk about Asylum all that much on our forum South Africans Immigrating to the USA. I am a DV selectee that entered DV for 13 years in a row before I was selected. If I ever thought Asylum was an option, we would talk about it, I assure you. It’s not for a lack of research on the topic.

There are always stories of someone that knows someone that were successful in an Asylum application, but I haven’t had the privilege of meeting one of these people yet. It’s not that Asylum is not real; of course it is. It’s just that the odds are so low at being successful that I would not encourage anyone to follow that route. In addition, it causes all kinds of crazy talk to come out the woodwork and we want to stick to facts that can be verified independently.

Educate yourself. Register for the Diversity Visa program when it opens in October each year. I am of the opinion that you have a much better chance of “winning” the DV Lottery.

Disclaimer: I hold a South African LLB law degree, but I am not a practicing attorney. My opinions are my own and are not intended as legal counsel. This Facebook group is my hobby. Please do your own research on all topics discussed and consult an immigration attorney before you make any decisions on immigration.