Stage 3: Preparing For Your Trial/Asylum Interview

Pulling Together Your Evidence

How do I determine what evidence to prepare for my individual hearing?

There are a number of different steps that you can take to prepare evidence for your individual hearing. The most important thing to remember when completing these steps is that your ultimate goal is to prove reliable, persuasive evidence for every part of your asylum story. There are many different types of evidence that might fit this criterion.

The first step you could take is to see if there is a country conditions packet for your country and your particular asylum claim. These are packets that contain multiple articles from credible sources that provide background information on your claim. Refer to the question below for a more detailed explanation of country conditions packets. It is also important to note that your immigration judge is expected to consult the State Department’s report on the country from which you are claiming asylum.

Once you’ve amassed enough evidence to illustrate to your immigration judge what conditions on the ground are like in your country of origin, you’ll want to focus on supporting the more personal parts of your story. You’ll want to make sure that the documents you look for next help are sufficient to substantiate the claims you made about fearing past or future persecution in your asylum application. 

To what end, you might consider including the following evidence:

• Medical records

• Proof that you were a member of a particular party of political group

• Letters from witnesses of events you mention in your asylum application (if you choose to include this, you must also include identification documents to proof the legitimacy of the letter) 

• Proof of activism (screenshots of online participation, images of self at protests)

• Death certificates of relevant family members

• Photographs of injuries

It is critical that any evidence you include get translated into English. We also recommend that you do not submit your evidence piece-by-piece, but all at once, once you’ve had a chance to check that everything is consistent. Consistency is a critical part of making sure that your case remains credible.

What is a country conditions packet and how can it help me?

When you present your asylum case, you will need to convince the judge that your fear for your safety is reasonable given what is currently happening in your country of origin. This can be done through submitting reports and articles about how other people like you are treated there. While each asylum case is unique, and yours will depend on your own identity, there are some already prepared sets of such documents, called country conditions packets, that can be found here for use. For example, if you are from Honduras and fear for your safety because you are Garifuna, there is a packet that may be helpful to you. Please note that, in addition to submitting a country conditions packet, you will still have to furnish evidence that supports the details from your individual case.

Is there anything I should not submit as part of my evidence?

You should submit anything that is relevant to your case and helps to show what happened to you and why you are afraid to go back.  But make sure that before you submit anything, you review the document to make sure it is correct!  Are the dates correct?  Does it explain what happened in an accurate way? Is there a major incident that is not there?  Mistakes in your evidence can hurt your case so make sure you are familiar with and can confirm everything you submit is correct.  Also, be prepared to explain to the court how you got the evidence, especially evidence from your home country.