U is a temporary visa category for victims of certain crimes in the United States who therefore suffered mental or physical harm and have cooperated in the investigation or prosecution of the crime. Once a person whose U visa case is approved has been in U status* in the U.S. for three years, he or she can apply for permanent residence.
The purpose of the U visa is to be a powerful law enforcement tool. This is because immigrants are often afraid to contact police when they are victimized by crime. They might be afraid such a call would lead to deportation, or might have had such bad experiences with law enforcement in their home countries that they do not trust police in general. The U visa is a carrot to encourage cooperation with law enforcement so that our communities are safer for everyone.
Many people think of the U visa as an option that only applies to undocumented people. However, anyone who lives in the United States and who is not currently but would like to be a permanent resident should consider this option. It provides a potentially much faster route to permanent residence than several employment-based immigration routes, for example. The U visa is also uniquely flexible in terms of the waiver of inadmissibility. There are very few grounds of inadmissibility that cannot be waived for a U visa. Assuming the applicant has such strong equities in the U.S. that an approval is warranted, even a prior deportation can be waived. The permanent bar based on unlawful presence can be waived, as well as the two-year home country residency requirement for certain J-1 visa holders.
When a person who comes to our office mentions having been the victim of a crime, the first thing we do is examine the police report or other investigative records to determine whether the incident is for a “qualifying crime.” These include:
- Abduction
- Abusive Sexual Contact
- Blackmail
- Domestic Violence
- Extortion
- False Imprisonment
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Felonious Assault
- Fraud in Foreign Labor Contracting
- Hostage
- Incest
- Involuntary Servitude
- Kidnapping
- Manslaughter
- Murder
- Obstruction of Justice
- Peonage
- Perjury
- Prostitution
- Rape
- Sexual Assault
- Sexual Exploitation
- Slave Trade
- Stalking
- Torture
- Trafficking
- Witness Tampering
- Unlawful Criminal Restraint
In addition, crimes that are “substantially similar” in their elements to one of the above are qualifying crimes, as are attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit any of the above.
If we determine the person in our office was the victim of a qualifying crime, the next step is to seek certification of helpfulness from the police department, prosecutor’s office, or other agency investigating the crime. Police and prosecutors are probably the most common law enforcement agencies certifying U visas, but judges, as well as agencies such as the FBI, Department of Labor, and Child Protective Services, are also empowered to certify helpfulness if they have undertaken an investigation into a qualifying crime.
Assuming the agency certifies helpfulness, the applicant can submit an application for U classification along with an application for waiver of any applicable grounds of inadmissibility. This stage involves proving the victim suffered substantial physical or mental harm as a result of being the victim of the qualifying criminal incident. It is also necessary to document that it is in the best interests of the United States for the applicant to stay in this country despite the applicable grounds of inadmissibility.
* Managing to first be placed in U status is becoming the longest part of the U visa process, unfortunately. Congress imposed a limit of 10,000 U approvals per year. A wait list has developed, predictably, and when the immigration service adjudicates a case favorably, the applicant is placed on the U visa wait list until the next fiscal year when one of the 10,000 annual U visas is available to them based on date of filing.