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Its been more than a year since Abdul, a 35-year-old Syrian native, last heard from U.S. officials holding on to his request for asylum, the last sliver of hope for his future in the United States. Its been almost three since he last saw his wife and young son, who have no choice but to remain on the other side of the globe until his application gets resolved.

I have tried every trick in the book to speed up my process, said Abdul, who asked not to use his full name for fear of jeopardizing his case. But constant office visits, phone calls and letters to members of Congress have done him little good in the years since he first filed his asylum request. Meanwhile, his son is growing up without him.

This experience is increasingly common for the thousands of asylum seekers who escape persecution and violence in their home countries every year, searching for refuge in the United States. The migrant influxthatoverwhelmed the southern U.S. border last summer also has flooded asylum offices and immigration court dockets, leaving lawyers, judges and asylum officers with mushrooming caseloads while immigrants spend months and years mired in uncertainty. The federal government isn't providing nearly enough resources to stem the soaring backlog, either, critics said.

The number of pending asylum petitionshas increased by more than 800 percent over the last four years, stretching out the period of uncertainty in some casesfrom six months to two years, or from two years to four.The wait isparticularly grueling for those like Abdul, who remainseparated from their families with no clear answers on their status or time frame for a resolution.

Abdul considershimself one of the lucky ones, having had the resources to make it to the U.S. in the first place. As an asylum seeker, he was able to get a U.S. work permit, which has allowedhim to make enough money to support himself and his family in Kuwait. But the financial and emotional toll of the long separation has mounted over the years.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for hiring and managing asylum officers. Reuters/Keith Bedford

Originally, he expected to be separated from his family for just a month or two. They were well-off and educated Syrians living in Damascus, where he ran a small importing business. But by 2012, the chaos of Syrias civil war spread to the capital, and abductions of people in Syrias business class began to spread. Abdul sent his wife, Rachel, and son, Moe, to Kuwait, where Rachel had family members. It would be a vacation of sortswhile they waited for things to settle down in Damascus.

However, they never did, and in February 2013, Abdul discovered that the Syrian regime was hunting for a customer of hisand targeting anyone connected to himin order to get to him. Abdul was one of those connections, even though he had onlya business relationship with the man they were searching for. He fled the country the next day with a pre-existing business visa to the United States.

I left the country with a backpack and thats all. There was no time to do anything. I know for sure if you are detained or captured by the regime, you will be tortured and killed, he recalled.

Rachel and Moe are livingin Kuwait as unauthorized residents, unable to go back to Syria. And although they pay regular penalties to the Kuwaiti government for overstaying their visas, they have few options there. Rachel is not allowed to work, even though she has advanced degrees in English and business. Moe isbanned from attending school, and private and international schools have refused to accept him. Hospitals willnot treat them, either.

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