The United States government grants asylum to many Chinese. In the last several years, the most asylum seekers in the U.S. were coming from China. There are two reasons for that: China has the largest population in the world (reportedly, 1.4 billion people); and the increase of human rights abuse.
But what are the more specific reasons why so many Chinese are leaving their home country? Here are the top two reasons:
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- Political oppression.
- No freedom of religion.
We are going to discuss these two reasons in the sections below.
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Political Chinese asylum seekers
Seeking asylum for political opinion is arguably the top reason why Chinese arrive to the United States. One of the most recent examples when a Chinese immigrant in the U.S. applied for asylum was Chinese billionaire Guo Wengu. Because he accused several Chinese politicians in corruption, Guo thought he would be persecuted in China. And so the billionaire decided to seek asylum in the U.S.
Although you may not be a billionaire, but you also may not support the Chinese government for different reasons. If that is the case, then you can arrive to the United States and apply for asylum as a political refugee.
Freedom of religion in China
Concerning the freedom of religion, the Chinese government seriously restricts opportunities for religious people to express themselves. In other words, only the government in China decides whether a religious organization is allowed to perform its activities. For example, Christians are strictly controlled by the government, and cannot perform all their activities.
Catholics or Muslims may face anti-human practices such as tortures, and are often forced to change their religion. The Chinese government can even imprison a Catholics representative for their beliefs. As for new religions, they must register and get approved by the government.
Therefore, if you are a persecuted Catholic, Muslim, or representative of any other religion in China, then you can also arrive to the U.S. to find asylum.
We would like to clarify one more aspect of obtaining asylum by Chinese people in the U.S. And that is the one child policy.
One child policy
Speaking of one child policy, which was enacted in 1979 in China, it is not a ground anymore for Chinese to seek asylum in the U.S. Because the Chinese government now allows couples to have more than one child in China, you may not be considered eligible for asylum because of one child policy. What is more, the Chinese citizens who were persecuted when the one child policy was active may not get asylum now either.
For instance, even if you are a woman who was sterilized several years earlier, a USCIS asylum officer will not consider you eligible for asylum unless you prove that you fear persecution for any other reason than the one-child policy.
To sum up, there are two main grounds why Chinese seek asylum in the United States. These grounds are political opinion and religion. If you think that you are eligible for asylum for any of these reason, you can file your application with USCIS. Simply consult a lawyer or attorney who would help you throughout the asylum process.