U Visa For Victims of Serious Crimes

Undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to abuse,exploitation and victimization because typically they are afraid of detection and subsequent deportation. Consequently, this fear prevents them from reporting that victimization to law enforcement agencies.

The U visa was created by Congress in October 2000 to help offer protection to victims of particular crimes and to assist law enforcement agencies investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of aliens, and other offenses.

The purpose of the U Visa is give victims of certain crimes temporary legal status and work eligibility in the United States for a period of up to 4 years. The U Visa is a nonimmigrant visa and only 10,000 U Visas may be issued every fiscal year. It should also be noted that family members may also be included on the petition.  Spouses, children, unmarried sisters and brothers under 18, mothers, fathers, as well as stepparents and adoptive parents are implicated here. An approved U Visa petition will automatically grant the applicant the permission to work in the United States.

As per United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are four requirements for eligibility:

1. The individual must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of a qualifying criminal activity.
2. He/she has information concerning that criminal activity.
3. He/she has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful in the investigation or prosecution of the crime.
4. The criminal activity must have violated the laws of the United States or occurred in the United States or in a United States territory.

A portion of the application must be certified by a Federal, State or local law enforcement agency, such as a prosecutor or a Federal or State judge in charge of the investigation in which the petitioner is the victim. Without this certification, the U Visa petition will be denied. If at any point the victim stops to cooperate with law enforcement, the certification can be withdrawn.

U visas can prove to be difficult cases and therefore it is of utmost importance to seek the assistance of an Immigration Attorney moving forward.

Smith & Stephenson LLP resolves immigration concerns for individuals and businesses. We are a full-service Immigration Law Firm and represent clients in all areas of immigration law, including family based immigration and employment-based immigration. If you have immigration questions, we have answers. You can call our Law Offices 24/7 at (212) 400-7147. Our Immigration Law Firm is located in New York, New York. Our firm serves primarily clients from the Tri-state area, however, we offer telephone consultations and we can help clients all over the United States and throughout the world.