Who may apply for asylum, and what is the one-year filing deadline?
8 U.S.C. § 1158 lets an alien physically present in the United States apply for asylum, and the application generally must be filed within one year of the alien’s arrival.
The answer
Who may apply
8 U.S.C. § 1158(a) provides that an alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States may apply for asylum, irrespective of the alien’s status, subject to the limits in the statute. Asylum may be granted to an applicant who qualifies as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42).
The one-year deadline
The application generally must be filed within one year after the date of the alien’s arrival in the United States. Section 1158(a)(2)(B) sets the one-year limit, subject to exceptions for changed or extraordinary circumstances.
The judged input
What the AI drafted
Submitted to the judgeThis is an excerpt from a draft visa-eligibility opinion — the kind of work product a lawyer generates with a legal-AI drafting tool, then has to stand behind. Kingsfield does not write it; it rules on the citations the model put in it. This draft cites three authorities; one of them is wrong.
The judge ruled on every citation as the draft used it — it accepted 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a) and 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B) and rejected 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3). Here is why.
The verdict
How Kingsfield ruled
Ruled 2026-06-23Each citation in the draft above was submitted to the Kingsfield judge and ruled against the primary-law corpus — Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation. These are live verdicts, not editorial. Each card shows the claim the draft made and the verbatim authority the verdict was rendered against.
The draft claimed: An alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States may apply for asylum irrespective of status, and asylum may be granted to an applicant who qualifies as a refugee.
“§ 1158(a)(1) Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in…”
Cite found; proposition supported by the cited text.
The draft claimed: An asylum application generally must be filed within one year after the date of the alien's arrival in the United States.
“§ 1158(a)(2)(B) Subject to subparagraph (D), paragraph (1) shall not apply to an alien unless the alien demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that the application has been filed within 1 year after the date of the alien’s arrival in the United States.”
Cite found; proposition supported by the cited text.
The draft claimed: Section 1231(b)(3) is the provision that authorizes an alien to apply for asylum and sets the one-year filing deadline.
Cite found, but the cited text does not support the claim. 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3) is the withholding-of-removal statute, which bars removal to a country where the alien's life or freedom would be threatened; the asylum application right and one-year deadline are at 8 U.S.C. 1158(a). Regenerate with the correct authority.
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Connect the Judge See the architectureThis page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The draft shown is an illustration of a typical AI answer; verdicts reflect the cited authority in the Kingsfield corpus as of the ruling date shown above.