It took a long time to apply for a refugee visa before getting a green card.

An application for political asylum (that is, an immigrant with refugee status) may be approved in three stages.

First: It may take one to two months to submit an application to the Immigration Bureau and wait for the interview notice from the Immigration Bureau. After the interview, the results are usually announced in about two weeks. If the Immigration Bureau approves the application, the whole application process will be over, about three months. If the immigration interview fails, the application will enter the second stage (except for black applicants).

In the second link, the application is directly transferred to the immigration court and heard by the immigration judge. The time schedule and case handling capacity of judges in different places are different, and the time schedule of judges in the same court is also different. In California and new york, it takes about one to two years; In Dallas, it takes about half a year, and it takes more than a year. In court, the lawyer invited by the client should be tit-for-tat with the lawyer representing the American government, and the client himself should be prepared to answer many thorny questions raised by American government lawyers and even judges. If all goes well and the judge approves the application on the spot, then the whole application process is over.

If the judge rejects the client's application, the case will be further appealed according to the client's decision. If you appeal, it will take 2-3 years or even longer from the appeal to the final approval.