First off dont worry about all these drama. Wait till january 2009. By then i am dead sure that one of the Democratic candidate is going to get elected as the president. And then You would get amnesty coz all of them strongly think its difficult to send all of the illegals back home and they want to pass a comprehensive immigration legislation. You would pay certain fine and you would get another EAD card and you would also be eligable to apply for instate tuition. Just hang on bro dont lose hope. Even if republican candidate wins there are candidates like Mike Hukabee and Jhon Mccain who are willing to give amnesty to illegals. You my friend would be lucky to be illegal in january 2009. If you have been in this country for atleast 4 years it is possible that you would definately get amnesty.

               Coming back to you original question, no its not only illegals who can apply. If you are in status then  you can apply through that indian restuarant. I am not a lawyer but from the things i know, you should be in legal status( you said you have filed asylum) and i dont know how would it conflict with your new application. You would apply in EB3 category for this you need to bring papers from back home that would be showing atleast 2 years of experience as a cook or whatever you are applying as. First your labor certificate must get approved then you would apply for EAD etc... its a lengthy process takes like 5 years average but the benifit is there are chances to get it quicker as they will try to sqeeze out the backlog. I know lot of people getting it in one year but dont count on this info.. it depends in each case. I am sori to know that you would be out of status etc. Dont get involved in any criminal activities that would only make your life more misserable now. I wish you all the luck that you might need.

God bless you,

YekloYatri