page_title: Asylum in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Asylum in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Annual Refugee Admissions to the United States by Fiscal Year, 1975–2019. Fiscal Year-To-Date 2019 covers October 1, 2018 - August 31, 2019; annual cap for FY 2019 is set by the administration at 30,000. Data Source: Refugee Processing Center, US Department of State, “Historical Arrivals Broken Down by Region (1975 – Present),” http://www.wrapsnet.org/admissions-and-arrivals/
context_page_description: The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals as specified by international and federal law. A specified number of legally defined refugees who either apply for asylum from inside the U.S. or apply for refugee status from outside the U.S., are admitted annually. Refugees compose about one-tenth of the total annual immigration to the United States, though some large refugee populations are very prominent.
  Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation, and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980. From 2005 to 2007, approximately 40,000 refugee seekers per year were accepted into the U.S., compared to about 30,000 per year in the UK and 25,000 per year in Canada. The U.S. accounted for about 10% of all refugee-seeker acceptances in the OECD countries in 1998-2007. The United States is by far the most populous OECD country and receives fewer than the average number of refugees per capita: In 2010-14 it ranked 28 of 43 industrialized countries reviewed by UNHCR. Sixty percent of asylum cases in the United States fail or are rejected.
context_section_description: The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals as specified by international and federal law. A specified number of legally defined refugees who either apply for asylum from inside the U.S. or apply for refugee status from outside the U.S., are admitted annually. Refugees compose about one-tenth of the total annual immigration to the United States, though some large refugee populations are very prominent.
  Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation, and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980. From 2005 to 2007, approximately 40,000 refugee seekers per year were accepted into the U.S., compared to about 30,000 per year in the UK and 25,000 per year in Canada. The U.S. accounted for about 10% of all refugee-seeker acceptances in the OECD countries in 1998-2007. The United States is by far the most populous OECD country and receives fewer than the average number of refugees per capita: In 2010-14 (before the massive migrant surge in Europe in 2015) it ranked 28 of 43 industrialized countries reviewed by UNHCR. Sixty percent of asylum cases in the United States fail or are rejected. One third of asylum seekers applying for asylum go into court unrepresented although asylum seekers with legal representation have a three times higher chance of winning their case. In 2015, the world saw the greatest displacement of people since World War II with 65.3 million people having to flee their homes. In fiscal year 2016, the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration under the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (MRA) requested that $442.7 million be allocated to refugee admission programs that relocate refugees into communities across the country.
  Asylum has two basic requirements. First, asylum applicants must establish that they fear persecution in their home country. Second, applicants must prove that they would be persecuted on account of at least one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or particular social group.
caption: Annual Refugee Admissions to the United States by Fiscal Year, 1975 to August 2019
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