Asylum is the status sought by a person physically present in the United States. The person must have a well-grounded fear of persecution on the race, religion, nationality basis or on the basis of membership in a particular social group, or political opinion in the country he or she comes from. If an individual does not have a country of nationality, then he or she must fear these grounds upon returning to the last place of the habitual residence.

In any case, when dealing with asylum, a person must file an application for it in order to prevent INS from removing him or her to the country they are from. The applicant must file I-589 with the INS Service Center with jurisdiction over the applicant's residence in the United States. As a rule there are no filing fees for this sort of application.

In order to apply for asylum you must prove that you have suffered past persecution or that you have a well-grounded fear of future persecution on the account of nationality, religion, race, etc. The following aliens are barred from asylum: terrorists, criminals, those who are considered to be perpetrators of human rights crimes and individuals who have firmly resettled in a third country. Moreover, even though you do not belong to any of the groups of people mentioned above, but you were previously denied asylum, you want be allowed to get it this time.