Asylum Evaluation for Asylum Seekers
An asylum evaluation is a psychosocial evaluation written to support an asylum claim. It documents what you fled, the effects it has had on your mental health, and what returning would mean for you, in the kind of clinical detail an attorney or an immigration judge can use. A Licensed Professional Counselor at Neema Counseling conducts the evaluation over secure video, wherever you are in Texas or Colorado. The fee is $900, and the finished report usually takes three to five weeks.
Why an asylum case often includes a mental health evaluation
Asylum is for people who cannot return to their country because of persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. For most applicants, what happened took place in another country, often years ago, and usually in circumstances where no one was keeping records.
That means the applicant's own testimony carries most of the weight, which puts credibility at the center of the case. An asylum evaluation can speak to that in three ways.
It corroborates the account, by showing that the psychological picture is consistent with what the applicant says they lived through.
It explains the gaps. Trauma affects memory, so dates can shift, the order of events can blur, and important details sometimes surface late. Without a clinical explanation, an inconsistency like that can look like dishonesty, but with one, it can be understood as the natural effect of trauma that it usually is.
It describes what return would mean, in clinical terms rather than dramatic ones.
An evaluation can also speak to the one-year filing deadline, when the psychological effects of what happened are part of the reason a claim wasn't filed sooner. Whether that applies to your case is your attorney's decision, and our role is to write the clinical report. We ask that you have an attorney in place before you schedule.
Who an asylum evaluation is for
- An affirmative applicant preparing a case for USCIS
- A defensive applicant whose case is before an immigration judge
- An applicant pursuing withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture, when their attorney asks for an evaluation
- A spouse or child included in an application, when their own experiences need to be documented
Which form of protection fits your situation is a question for your attorney, and we will shape the report around what they tell us the case needs.
What the evaluation documents
Over two video meetings (and a third when the history calls for it), the evaluator puts together a record of:
- What happened before you left. This includes persecution, threats, detention, violence, and the events that made it impossible to stay, described in your own words and in your own order.
- The journey, when it is relevant, including any harm you experienced along the way.
- Your mental health now. This includes symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, hypervigilance, grief, and any other effects, along with how they show up in your daily life.
- Memory and its limits. Where your account is incomplete or inconsistent, the evaluation explains the clinical reasons for that rather than smoothing it over.
- What return would mean. The specific fears you carry, and the clinical basis for the distress connected to them.
- What carried you through. Your faith, your family ties, and the determination that got you here. An evaluation that records only the harm tells a judge less than one that also records how you have endured.
The report is objective. It describes the account you gave and what the evaluator observed, with the clinical reasoning shown, and it does not make the legal argument or predict an outcome.
Safety, privacy, and pace
All of our immigration evaluations take place by secure video, so you get to choose the place you talk from. What the evaluator writes is for your attorney to use in your case.
Talking about persecution is hard, and doing it on a schedule can be even harder. The interview moves at whatever pace feels manageable for you. Taking breaks is completely fine, so is continuing on a second day, and you won't be pressed for details the report doesn't need.
Cost and timeline
The fee for an asylum evaluation is $900, which includes the interviews, any document review, and the written report. Asylum reports are priced higher than our other evaluation types because they usually cover a longer history and a wider range of questions. Please plan on three to five weeks from your final appointment to the finished report, and most of that time is spent writing rather than interviewing. If a hearing date or filing deadline is coming up soon, please ask us about an expedited report. It carries an additional fee and depends on which clinicians have availability. Our free 15-minute counseling consultation doesn't apply to evaluations.
Who performs the evaluation
Our immigration evaluations are conducted by Licensed Professional Counselors, and they are psychosocial and mental health evaluations. If your attorney needs formal expert testimony from a psychologist or formal psychological testing, we will refer you to a colleague who provides it, rather than take on a case we aren't the right fit for. We've found that attorneys would much rather hear that in the first conversation than three weeks in.
Counseling after the evaluation
The evaluation is a single assessment with a clear beginning and end, and it isn't ongoing treatment. Asylum cases can take years, and the waiting can be its own kind of strain. We offer immigration counseling and trauma therapy in English and Spanish online across Texas and Colorado, and in person at our Austin office in English and Spanish and at our Houston office in English. Counseling is completely separate from your evaluation, and it neither helps nor harms your case. Our article on coping with difficult emotions after immigration can be a helpful place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Can the evaluation be used in immigration court?
Your attorney decides what goes into the record and how it is used. The report is written so that a judge can read it as easily as an attorney can, and it is clinical, specific, and clear about what the evaluator did and did not observe.
Does the evaluator need documents from my case?
It's helpful to have your declaration if one has been written, along with anything your attorney thinks is relevant, but the evaluation doesn't depend on them. Document review is included in the fee.
Can I come to an office for the evaluation?
No. Our evaluations are done by video only, anywhere in Texas or Colorado, so you can choose a private place where you feel safe to talk.
How much does an asylum evaluation cost, and how long does it take?
The fee is $900, and most reports are finished three to five weeks after your final appointment with us. When a clinician has availability, a faster turnaround is sometimes possible for an additional fee.
Can I do the evaluation in Spanish?
Yes. Fabian Armenta, LPC, conducts asylum evaluations in Spanish, so the whole evaluation can take place in Spanish without an interpreter. Lauren Jones, LPC-S, also works with Spanish-speaking clients, with Elvia Delgado, LPC-Associate, assisting with translation. Just let us know which you would prefer when you reach out.
I missed the one-year deadline. Is an evaluation still worth it?
It may be, and that is a question for your attorney. When the reason for the delay is connected to what you went through, an evaluation can describe that clinically. Whether it meets the legal exception is not something we are able to decide.
Does the evaluation guarantee my claim will be granted?
No. The decision belongs to USCIS or an immigration judge, and the evaluation is one part of a larger record. What a careful, honest evaluation can do is give your attorney a complete clinical account of what you went through and how it has affected you.
Schedule an asylum evaluation
When your attorney has asked for an asylum evaluation, you can schedule an immigration evaluation with Neema Counseling. We meet with you by video from anywhere in Texas or Colorado, the fee is $900, and most reports are ready in three to five weeks. If you'd like to read about the interviews before you call, take a look at what to expect from an immigration evaluation.
Other evaluations we write: extreme hardship (I-601 and I-601A), VAWA, U visa, and T visa evaluations. You can also read about immigration evaluations in Houston and in Austin.