Conditional Status Lifted For Certain Asylum Grants

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Office of Public Affairs

(703)305-0289, Fax: (703) 605-0365

Internet: http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir

June 5, 2001

EOIR and INS Lift Conditional Status for Certain Fiscal Year 2000
Asylum Grants Based on Coercive Population Control Policies

Law Limits Asylum in Such Cases to 1,000 Applicants in Each Fiscal Year

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) recently sent notices to aliens in the United States who had been granted asylum conditionally during the period from March 19, 1999, to August 4, 1999, based on their persecution or fear of persecution related to coercive population control in their countries of origin. The notices informed those aliens that they were now fully eligible for all asylum benefits.

Asylum is granted on a conditional basis by Immigration Judges and by the Board of Immigration Appeals in EOIR, or by Asylum Officers in the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), because the law specifically limits to 1,000 per fiscal year the number of applicants who can receive asylum on grounds related to coercive population control. After the cases are completed, EOIR and INS arrange all conditional asylum grants chronologically, then convert no more than 1,000 to outright grants for any fiscal-year period and notify the grantees.

Any alien who was granted conditional asylum on or before August 4, 1999, by EOIR but who has not received a notice advising that a number is available may check on the status of his or her asylum grant by promptly sending a letter with a copy of the order granting conditional asylum to the office with jurisdiction over the case. The addresses are listed below:

Conditional Grant issued by an Immigration Judge:

The Office of the Chief Immigration Judge
Attn: Mark Pasierb
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2500
Falls Church, VA 22041 Phone: 703-305-1247

Conditional Grant issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals:

Board of Immigration Appeals
The Clerk's Office
Post Office Box 8530
5201 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1300
Falls Church, Virginia 22041 Phone: 703-605-1007

Grants by INS Asylum Officers:

The INS Asylum Offices are in the process of removing the conditional grant status and sending out notification letters to certain aliens granted conditional asylum status by the INS during fiscal year 1999. Aliens who received a recommended approval from the INS from March 19, 1999 through August 4, 1999, will receive a notice of a final grant of asylum from an INS asylum office at this time.

The INS granted conditional asylum status to aliens only after completion of all required background investigations, such as fingerprint checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). If an alien was found eligible for asylum based on persecution or fear of persecution on account of opposition to coercive population control practices, the INS issued the alien a recommended approval pursuant to regular INS asylum procedures, pending completion of the required background investigation.

Once the INS received results from the background investigation, the INS would convert the recommended approval to a conditional grant of asylum, pending release of the numbers for fiscal year 2000. Therefore, an alien who was given notification of a recommended asylum approval in fiscal year 2000 may not have been granted conditional asylum in fiscal year 2000, if the results of the background security check were not received on or before September 30, 2000.

Any inquiries regarding removal of the conditional asylum status granted by an INS Asylum Office should be directed to the Asylum Office that issued the conditional approval.

-- EOIR --