In his home country of Bulgaria, there was hardly a moment in Ivan's life when he wasn't being persecuted for his or his family's anti-communist political beliefs and activities. Even while in his mother's womb, Communist officials severely beat his pregnant mother. As an outspoken youth, he was interrogated and detained several times. As an adult, Ivan spent 15 years of his life being physically and psychologically tortured in various prisons. He lost hearing in one ear during an explosion that was meant to take his life. Ivan was finally forced to flee Bulgaria to protect his family and preserve his own life.

When Ivan arrived alone in New York in 1993, he received assistance in completing an asylum application from a local church and was temporarily allowed to live there. With money from the church, he moved to Seattle to find work. In 1994, Ivan sought the assistance of NWIRP, which identified a pro bono attorney to represent him. While his joined the backlog of asylum applications, Ivan struggled to find work and was forced to live on the streets in an old van he bought with earnings from occasional day labor work. In the years that followed, Ivan lost contact with his pro bono attorney. NWIRP attempted to locate Ivan, but Ivan was homeless.

When Ivan returned to NWIRP a few years later to check in on his case, NWIRP's Asylum Unit took the case, helping Ivan apply for food stamps and connecting him with important services in the community. After more than 11 years, NWIRP finally received an asylum interview notice for Ivan. On February 23, 2005, nearly twelve years after Ivan first came to the United States and applied for asylum, Ivan had been granted asylum protection in the United States.

Note: To protect his privacy, client's name was changed for this story.