Firm Partner, Benjamin Osorio, Wins Unpublished Board of Immigration Appeals Decision

The Board’s opinion resolves the issue of whether an Immigration Judge possesses jurisdiction to grant derivative asylum to an individual based on their spouse’s approved asylum application in different removal proceedings following a motion to sever. Despite regulations clearly establishing that an Immigration Judge may grant derivative asylum status to the spouse of a non-citizen where the spouse was included in the asylee’s application absent any bars to asylum listed in INA § 208(b)(2)(A)(i)–(v), Immigration Judges continue to erroneously misjudge their jurisdiction in such cases. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.21(a). The Board held that a “motion to sever is a procedural measure that does not preclude a respondent from receiving asylum as a derivative when listed or included on the principal’s application.” The decision eliminates the need to file an I-730 with USCIS for derivative family members that are in separate removal proceedings and allows for them to receive asylum status much faster.