China's decision Thursday to allow couples to have two children after decades of limiting families to a single child may slow the flood of Chinese immigrants receiving political asylum in the United States, legal experts said.

In recent years, more immigrants from China have been granted U.S. asylum than from any other country. According to federal statistics, asylum was given to more than 27,000 Chinese between 2011 and 2013, representing more than one-third of all cases; Egypt had the second-most with about 7,300.

In part, that reflects an unusual aspect of U.S. immigration law that lowers the bar required for Chinese nationals seeking asylum.