Singh v. Holder (9th Cir. 6/17/2011)-UPDATED

The Ninth Circuit court of Appeals, with all judges in the circuit taking part in the decision, voted to reverse itself regarding an earlier decision which I previously discuss here.  The issue in this case was whether an asylum applicant is required to provide additional evidence which corroborates his credible testimony that he filed his application within one year of arriving in the U.S.  To my dismay, a panel of three judges who originally heard the case ruled that the applicant must do so.  Now, the full court reconsidered the decision and overruled the panel.

The court found that regarding the issue of corroborating evidence, an asylum applicant is not required to provide corroborating evidence that he filed his application within one year of arriving in the U.S.  The decision is consistent with the court’s past rulings on similar issues.  It relieves applicants of the undue hardship of providing corroborating documentary evidence which may have been destroyed or never existed in the first place.