Asylum · Form I-589
Psychological evaluations for asylum claims.
An asylum claim turns on a well-founded fear of persecution. A psychological evaluation gives the court an independent clinical account of what the applicant lived through and what it has done to them — in the language adjudicators are used to reading.
Every evaluation is completed by a U.S. licensed Doctor of Psychology, virtually, anywhere in the country, in English or Spanish.
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The first call costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We will tell you honestly whether an evaluation is likely to help this case.
At a glance
- Fee
- $1,000, with payment plans over up to six months.
- Interview
- Virtual. One session, or two at no extra charge if the applicant needs to stop.
- Report
- One to two weeks from the interview.
- Languages
- English and Spanish. Interpreters for other languages on request.
- Where
- Nationwide. Nothing to travel to.
We evaluate. We do not treat, and we are not the applicant's therapist — which is precisely what makes the findings usable as evidence.
What the evaluation establishes
An asylum evaluation is not a character reference. It is clinical evidence addressed to the questions the case has to answer.
That the fear is well founded
The central legal question. We document the applicant's account of the persecution they suffered or expect, and the clinical picture that is consistent with it — the fear response, the avoidance, the physiological symptoms that are difficult to produce on request.
The harm already done
Torture, sexual violence, threats, the loss of family members, the flight itself. We record what happened and what it cost, using validated, standardised instruments rather than impression alone.
Why the testimony may not be perfect
Trauma damages memory. An account that arrives out of order, or with gaps, or flatly delivered, can read as evasive to someone who does not know what trauma does. The evaluation explains, clinically, why a truthful account can look that way.
What return would mean
Where counsel asks for it, we connect the findings to country-of-origin conditions and set out the psychological consequences of removal in terms the record can rely on.
What an asylum claim has to establish
The petition turns on a small number of findings. These are the ones an evaluation can reach, and the ones it cannot.
A well-founded fear of persecution
The standard has a subjective and an objective half: the applicant must genuinely fear return, and that fear must be objectively reasonable. An evaluation speaks to the first directly — whether the fear presentation is clinically coherent, sustained, and consistent with the account given. It cannot establish country conditions, and a report that strays into them invites the objection that the clinician went beyond their expertise.
Past persecution, and the presumption it creates
Where past persecution is established, a presumption of well-founded fear follows, and the burden shifts. Severe psychological harm can itself amount to persecution, not merely evidence of it. Where that is the clinical picture, the report should say so in those terms rather than leaving the inference to the adjudicator.
Why the testimony may not be clean
Adverse credibility findings are the most common way asylum claims fail, and trauma produces exactly the presentation that reads as evasive: fragmented chronology, disclosure that arrives late, flat affect while describing atrocity, inconsistency on peripheral detail alongside a stable core account. An evaluation can explain that pattern as a recognised clinical sequela rather than as an inconsistency to be held against the applicant.
Filing after the one-year deadline
Where the application is late, extraordinary circumstances can excuse the delay, and severe post-traumatic symptoms or depression are among the circumstances that qualify. This is one of the few places an evaluation can be dispositive rather than corroborative.
Where there is no future fear
Some claims rest on the severity of what has already happened rather than on what awaits return. There, the clinical account of lasting harm is the case.
What the evaluation does not do
It does not establish nexus to a protected ground, assess country conditions, or opine on credibility as a legal finding. Those are the court’s. Naming those limits in the report is what keeps the rest of it credible.
PPA is a clinical practice, not a law firm. The standards described above are set out to show where a psychological evaluation fits within them. They are general information, not legal advice, and nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship. What a particular case requires is for the applicant’s attorney to determine.
How it works
Four steps. The applicant needs an hour of privacy and a phone or a laptop; we handle the rest.
A call, at no charge
Tell us about the case. We explain how the evaluation works, what it can and cannot do, and what it costs. No payment is taken at this stage.
Usually within a few hoursDocuments and scheduling
Counsel sends us the declaration and anything else that matters. We book the interview around the applicant's work and childcare, evenings included.
Priority scheduling when a filing date requires itThe clinical interview
Virtual, in the applicant's own language. History, the events themselves, and standardised measures. If it becomes too much to finish in one sitting, we stop and take it up again another day — and that second session costs nothing.
One session, or two at no extra chargeThe report
Written, signed and sent to counsel as a PDF, ready to file. We answer questions on the findings afterwards at no extra charge.
One to two weeks from the interviewWhat the report contains
Written for a judge and an asylum officer, not for a clinician. Its length follows the case rather than a template.
- The applicant's relevant personal, family and medical history
- A chronological account of the persecution and the flight
- Mental status examination and behavioural observations
- The standardised instruments administered, with scores and what they mean
- Diagnostic impressions, where a diagnosis is warranted
- How the symptoms affect daily functioning, work, sleep and parenting
- Clinical explanation of memory, affect and inconsistency where relevant
- Prognosis, and what treatment would require
- The evaluator's credentials, licence number and signature
We provide the written evaluation and nothing beyond it. We do not prepare declarations, and we do not appear as an expert witness or give testimony.
We are retained to examine, not to advocate. The report says what we find — which is the only reason it carries weight.
If the clinical picture does not support the claim, we will tell counsel before the report is written rather than after. An evaluation that overstates is worse than no evaluation at all: it invites cross-examination that damages an otherwise sound case.
Fees
$1,000Complete. No hourly billing.
The fee covers the intake call, the clinical interview, the instruments, the written report, and answering counsel's questions once it is delivered.
A second session costs nothing extra. With this material an applicant sometimes cannot get through the interview in one sitting. When that happens we stop and finish another day, and the fee does not move. Nobody is put in the position of choosing between stopping and paying more.
Payment plans run over up to six months, and the evaluation goes ahead while payments are running. We take payment only after we have spoken to you and agreed the case is one we can help with. If the case stops before the interview takes place, the fee is returned in full and any remaining payments are cancelled.
Where a filing date requires it, we prioritise scheduling.
Other evaluations we prepare
Questions we are asked
Does the applicant have to relive everything?
They have to tell us enough for the findings to be sound, and no more. The interview is structured so that the hardest material is approached once the applicant is settled, and it can be stopped and resumed. Clinicians who work with trauma every day are not the same as being questioned by a stranger.
Can this be done if the applicant has no diagnosis and is coping well?
Yes, and the report will say so. Resilience is not evidence that nothing happened, and an honest account of a person functioning despite what they survived can be more persuasive than a long list of symptoms. What we will not do is manufacture a diagnosis that is not there.
Is the evaluation ever done in person?
No. Every evaluation we carry out is virtual, and that is deliberate rather than a compromise: it is what allows us to take a case in any state, including for applicants who live nowhere near a psychologist who speaks their language. The protocol, the standardised instruments and the written report are the same ones we would use in a consulting room. Many applicants find it easier to talk about what happened to them from their own home than in an unfamiliar office, and there is no travel, no waiting room and no appointment to explain to an employer.
What do you need from counsel?
The declaration, the filing deadline, and anything already in the record that bears on credibility or on the applicant's mental health. If there are prior evaluations or treatment notes, we would rather see them than be surprised by them.
Who carries out the evaluation?
A U.S. licensed Doctor of Psychology, in every case. You can read about the clinician who carries out the evaluations on our About page.
What if the case does not go ahead?
If the interview has not yet taken place, the fee is returned in full and any remaining payments are cancelled. Once the interview has happened the clinical work has been done, and the fee stands.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us a little about the case and we will call you to explain how the evaluation works and arrange the interview. Nothing is charged for that call.
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