There are two different types of cases that can be filed: Affirmative Asylum and Defensive Asylum. Affirmative Asylum is requested by a person who has entered illegally without being apprehended by the authorities or who has entered legally using a Visa.  A different case occurs with Defensive Asylum in which the applicant was caught and is in Deportation Proceedings, or as mentioned above, their Affirmative Asylum case was not approved.