Visa U

The U-Visa is a form of relief for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and cooperated with law enforcement or government officials to investigate or prosecute the perpetrator. U-Visa eligibility is based on whether the victim corroborated with the law enforcement or government officials and decided to prosecute the offender.

The U-Visa requirements depend on whether you are the victim of qualifying criminal activity. The most common qualifying criminal activities are the following: sexual assault, domestic violence, felonious assault, rape, abusive sexual contact, and other violent crimes. The U-Visa regulations are in place to assist law enforcement agencies to protect the victims of the crimes. Additionally, the regulations help to better adjudicate the applications that are processed each year by USCIS.

The first step towards filing the U-Visa application is obtaining the police report or any report from a law enforcement agency indicating that the victim assisted with investigating or prosecuting the criminal. Secondly, the U-Visa certification is sent along with the report to the law enforcement agency to sign off on proving the victim did aide the agencies. Finally, after the U-Visa certification is approved, the U-Visa application along with the approved U-Visa certification is filed with USCIS. The processing times vary depending on how many U-Visa are granted each year.

The U-Visa application is fairly complicated to maneuver due to the multi-step process and the complexity of the applications. You need to have a knowledgeable and experienced U-Visa immigration lawyer to help process the applications properly. A U-Visa lawyer is crucial when filing complex applications that require various steps to achieve a successful result.

Our firm has processed hundreds of U-Visa applications and we’ve received great results. We’ve developed a great rapport with the local law enforcement agencies, which helps us expedite the U-Visa certifications in order to file the U-Visa applications. We have a set team that specializes only on the U-Visa process from obtaining the police report to filing the U-Visa application.