Houston pro bono team secures decision in Afghani asylum case

Three Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers secured a grant of asylum for our firm's pro bono client Nazerkhail Wakil after filing a mandamus petition in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The win ensures that Mr. Wakil has been granted asylum in the US for an indefinite period.

Mr. Wakil fled his home country to the United States during the August 2021 evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan by US forces after the Taliban returned to the city in the wake of the international forces withdrawal from the country. Mr. Wakil had worked with the US and other international forces and faced the extreme danger of persecution for this work and support of the international forces during the past two decades.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is statutorily required to render a decision in affirmative asylum applications within 150 days absent exceptional circumstances. Mr. Wakil filed his application in November 2022 and was interviewed within weeks, but was forced to wait for more than 235 days for a decision in his case.

With this decision, Mr. Wakil can finally petition for his wife and young family to join him in the US.

Led by Harriet Amelia Wessel and Brett Young with the assistance of Will Martin, Barbara Cooper and Diane Sanders (Houston), Norton Rose Fulbright filed a mandamus petition in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas to compel USCIS to render a decision in this case.