Green Card Approval for Venezuelan Asylee

We recently received an approval of lawful permanent residence (also known as having a green card) for a Venezuelan national. Congratulations to our client!

I represented the client approximately 16 months ago in his defensive asylum hearing at New York Immigration Court, which was granted by the Immigration Judge, and we then applied for an adjustment of status which was just granted without a request for evidence by the USCIS. After one year of holding asylee status, one is eligible to adjust to lawful permanent resident. While you previously had to wait until one year was completed before submitting your green card application, you can now apply before one year but the application cannot be approved until at least a year has passed. Given that processing times for green card applications can take over a year, it may be a good idea to apply for permanent residence shortly after obtaining asylee status.