The right of asylum or political asylum is an option available to an individual who is being persecuted based on religious beliefs or political opinion in their country of origin to be protected in another country. An individual who is facing persecution in their country of origin due to political stance, race, color, national origin, ethnic background, or religious belief is entitled to claim sanctuary in the United States. The United States Government allows a specified number of immigrants into the U.S. every year. Each year the President of the United States proposes the maximum number of refugees to be admitted to the States to congress. Each year, immigrants through asylum account for about 10 % of the annual immigration rate.

Generally an application for resettlement by a refugee is given to a U.S. embassy in a foreign country and is reviewed by employees of the State Department. The United States has a preferred order of solutions, first repatriation of refugees to their country of origin, integration of the refugees into their country of asylum, and last, resettlement to a third country, such as the U.S. when the first two options are not viable. Applying for asylum can be difficult as can meeting the required criteria for qualification. There are essentially four requirements for an individual to meet in order for their application to be accepted or considered.

First, the applicant must fear persecution based on race, nationality, religious beliefs or political stance. This is somewhat of a subjective element as persecution can be argued different ways. Second, the applicant's fear must be well founded; they must be able to prove that the persecution that they face is real and that they suffer from it on a regular basis. Third, the persecution that the applicant faces must be based on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Fourth, the applicant must exercise favorable discretion.

One common issue in this process is establishing persecution and what exactly constitutes €persecution.€ It is generally a subjective determination as the term can be argued many ways and there are many circumstances and evidence that can be brought forward to resemble persecution. Persecution is defined as harm or suffering inflicted upon the victim in order to punish them for their beliefs or characteristics that the persecutor does not tolerate. Torture, murder, jail, physical abuse and other violent actions constitute persecution.