<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals as specified by international and federal law . A specified number of legally defined refugees who either apply for asylum from inside the U.S. or apply for refugee status from outside the U.S., are admitted annually . Refugees compose about one - tenth of the total annual immigration to the United States, though some large refugee populations are very prominent . Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980 . In the years 2005 through 2007, the number of asylum seekers accepted into the U.S. was about 40,000 per year . This compared with about 30,000 per year in the UK and 25,000 in Canada . The U.S. accounted for about 10% of all asylum - seeker acceptances in the OECD countries in 1998 - 2007 . The United States is by far the most populous OECD country and receives fewer than the average number of refugees per capita: In 2010 - 14 (before the massive migrant surge in Europe in 2015) it ranked 28 of 43 industrialized countries reviewed by UNHCR . </P> <P> Asylum has three basic requirements . First, an asylum applicant must establish that he or she fears persecution in their home country . Second, the applicant must prove that he or she would be persecuted on account of one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or particular social group . Third, an applicant must establish that the government is either involved in the persecution, or unable to control the conduct of private actors . </P>

Individuals who come to the us seeking asylum are known as