Asylum for my mother in law

[mari04 100]

I am trying to figure out road ahead, just in case. My wife is permanent resident (I am citizen). My wife will apply for US c citizenship this December. My mother in law is in Ukraine and was not planning on moving to US at all (I am still not sure if she will anyway, even in the worst case scenario). My question is: if the war break-out in Ukraine and she needs to relocate, is there a path to relocate to our place in US as a refugee? What is the path (checked here could not find guides for asylum). Is asylum path different if my wife and I are in US and willing to sponsor her to come to US in full, including insurance (we are wealthy)? Is asylum process faster/easier if the applicant has immediate relatives in US willing to sponsor the refugee?

Thank you.

[Boiler 45,468]

She has to be in the US to apply for Asylum

 

Refugee’s are handled by the UN

[millefleur 5,046]

You can try applying for Humanitarian Parole for her. Your wife can only sponsor if she's a US citizen, so there's no path for her to immigrate to the US via you or your wife. The Humanitarian Parole process is basically the USCIS process for people living abroad and need to come to the US for "urgent humanitarian reasons" which is left somewhat open ended and is approved on a case-by-case basis. You can read more about it here:

 

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/explore-my-options/humanitarian-parole

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian-or-significant-public-benefit-parole-for-individuals-outside-the-united-states

 

5 hours ago, mari04 said:

Is asylum process faster/easier if the applicant has immediate relatives in US willing to sponsor the refugee?

We don't see a lot of cases of that and we don't track it here on VJ, so I simply don't know.

Edited February 20, 2022 by millefleur

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to General Immigration-Related Discussion**

 

 

I'm also tagging @jan22 as they might be able to shed light on any kind of pathway to the US for a person in this situation.

Edited February 20, 2022 by millefleur

[jan22 3,052]

12 hours ago, millefleur said:

**Moved from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to General Immigration-Related Discussion**

 

 

I'm also tagging @jan22 as they might be able to shed light on any kind of pathway to the US for a person in this situation.

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any good pathway to the US for OP's mother-in-law (mil).

 

As others have stated, asylum can only be claimed by someone in the United States ( or, at a minimum, at the US border with a visa).  I am assuming that the mil does not have a visitor's visa to the US or the OP would have been already planning her travel. Therefore, this pathway is not an option.

 

Applying as a refugee is a long complex that begins with registration and referral for refugee processing with UNHCR.  Refugee status us adjudicated on a case-by-case basis after several interviews.  (See https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees -- including all the sub-headings to get a better idea of how it all works.)  It that's always been a slow process, but with all of the applications from Afghanistan that are being processed, it's even slower.  Knowing that there's a US-based sponsor already may/may not speed up the very end of the process, but it will take a long time to get to that.  Probably not a realistic pathway for the mil in the short-term.

 

The only possibly alternative would be, as millefleur discussed, would be Humanitarian Parole.  Take a look at the links in her post to for details.  While certainly faster and maybe more approvable for the mil , this process, too, has been affected by the large number of AfghaniStan applications.

 

The goal, of course, is to ensure the safety of the mil.  The best plan, at least for the immediate time frame, may be to find a nearby safer country and move her there, with OP's financial (and emotional, of course) support.

 

This is a tragic situation for all the families involved.  Hopefully, it will be resolved without war or bloodshed.

[millefleur 5,046]

1 hour ago, jan22 said:

The only possibly alternative would be, as millefleur discussed, would be Humanitarian Parole.  Take a look at the links in her post to for details.  While certainly faster and maybe more approvable for the mil , this process, too, has been affected by the large number of AfghaniStan applications.

I saw that, too, it seems HP is really overwhelmed right now due to the Afghanistan situation. Here's an article about it:

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-received-overwhelming-number-of-humanitarian-parole-requests-from-afghans-/6441411.html

 

[jan22 3,052]

1 hour ago, jan22 said:

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any good pathway to the US for OP's mother-in-law (mil).

 

As others have stated, asylum can only be claimed by someone in the United States (or, at a minimum, at the US border with a visa).  I am assuming that the mil does not have a visitor's visa to the US or the OP would have been already planning her travel. Therefore, this pathway is not an option.

 

Applying as a refugee is a long, complex process that begins with registration and referral for refugee processing with UNHCR.  Refugee status is adjudicated on a case-by-case basis after several interviews.  (See https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees -- including all the sub-headings -- to get a better idea of how it all works.)  It's always been a slow process, but with all of the applications from Afghanistan that are being processed, it's even slower.  Knowing that there's a US-based sponsor already may/may not speed up the very end of the process, but it will take a long time to get to that.  Probably not a realistic pathway for the mil in the short-term.

 

The only possible alternative would be, as millefleur discussed, Humanitarian Parole.  Take a look at the links in her post for details.  While certainly faster and maybe more approvable for the mil, this process, too, has been affected by the large number of Afghanistan applications.

 

The goal, of course, is to ensure the safety of the mil.  The best plan, at least for the immediate time frame, may be to find a nearby safer country and move her there, with OP's financial (and emotional, of course) support.

 

This is a tragic situation for all the families involved.  Hopefully, it will be resolved without war or bloodshed.

Sorry for all the typos when I posted this -- I should not try to do this on a mobile device!  I've corrected them in the above quote, in case the first post was confusing.

[mari04 100]

1 hour ago, jan22 said:

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any good pathway to the US for OP's mother-in-law (mil).

 

As others have stated, asylum can only be claimed by someone in the United States ( or, at a minimum, at the US border with a visa).  I am assuming that the mil does not have a visitor's visa to the US or the OP would have been already planning her travel. Therefore, this pathway is not an option.

 

Applying as a refugee is a long complex that begins with registration and referral for refugee processing with UNHCR.  Refugee status us adjudicated on a case-by-case basis after several interviews.  (See https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees -- including all the sub-headings to get a better idea of how it all works.)  It that's always been a slow process, but with all of the applications from Afghanistan that are being processed, it's even slower.  Knowing that there's a US-based sponsor already may/may not speed up the very end of the process, but it will take a long time to get to that.  Probably not a realistic pathway for the mil in the short-term.

 

The only possibly alternative would be, as millefleur discussed, would be Humanitarian Parole.  Take a look at the links in her post to for details.  While certainly faster and maybe more approvable for the mil , this process, too, has been affected by the large number of AfghaniStan applications.

 

The goal, of course, is to ensure the safety of the mil.  The best plan, at least for the immediate time frame, may be to find a nearby safer country and move her there, with OP's financial (and emotional, of course) support.

 

This is a tragic situation for all the families involved.  Hopefully, it will be resolved without war or bloodshed.

Thank you, jann22. She can drive to Germany and stay there for a month or so but if invasion takes longer, I am thinking of more permanent solution. She can seek asylum in Germany but she has no one there. I will research parole. Thank you. 

[mari04 100]

Everyone, thank you so much for all your help! She will drive to Germany and stay there until I can clear HP for her. Or until my wife gets citizenship next year. I will keep you posted on the progress. For now she does not want to move: she is a lawyer with her own firm. If invasion takes place it will not matter anymore. She can easily drive to Germany. She does this every year for physicals so this can be the path. I just want her to be safe. 

[Boiler 45,468]

Germany makes much more sense, something would have to happen for HP to even come into play. And then the system would be totally overwhelmed 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Boiler

[millefleur 5,046]

29 minutes ago, mari04 said:

She will drive to Germany and stay there until I can clear HP for her. Or until my wife gets citizenship next year.

Sponsoring her when your wife has US citizenship is the best sure fire way to get her here. By the way, it's unclear where you are in the process, if you could fill in your timeline, we'd really appreciate that!

 

[Boiler 45,468]

Schenegen is good for 90 days as a visitor sponsorships  you are looking at 2024 maybe 

[jan22 3,052]

6 hours ago, mari04 said:

Thank you, jann22. She can drive to Germany and stay there for a month or so but if invasion takes longer, I am thinking of more permanent solution. She can seek asylum in Germany but she has no one there. I will research parole. Thank you. 

Sounds like a good plan....that I sincerely hope won't be necessary.  Good luck!

[RnJ2021 59]

The USA admitted 10s of thousands of Afghans before the HP process. Now that the war has started, what is the chance the USA will make the same option available for Ukrainians who have American sponsors and places to live? My MIL is in the same situation.

[Boiler 45,468]

1 minute ago, RnJ2021 said:

The USA admitted 10s of thousands of Afghans before the HP process. Now that the war has started, what is the chance the USA will make the same option available for Ukrainians who have American sponsors and places to live? My MIL is in the same situation.

Special Immigrant Visa's?

 

I suppose it is possible, what was her role working for the US? I have not heard that such people are at risk of being targeted by Russians.