U Visa for Crime Victims: Who Qualifies and How It Works

Who qualifies for a U visa

Under INA § 101(a)(15)(U), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(U), the principal petitioner must show four things:

1. Substantial physical or mental abuse suffered as a result of having been a victim of a qualifying crime. USCIS weighs the nature of the injury, its severity, the duration of the harm and any lasting effects on the victim's health or appearance (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(b)(1)).
2. Information about the criminal activity. For a child under 16, a parent, guardian or next friend can meet this requirement.
3. Helpfulness: the person “has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful” to a federal, state or local law enforcement official, prosecutor, judge or other authority investigating or prosecuting the crime. The regulation adds that the petitioner must not have refused or failed to provide information and assistance reasonably requested (§ 214.14(b)(3)).
4. A U.S. connection: the crime violated U.S. law or occurred in the United States, including Indian country, military installations and the territories.

Qualifying crimes

The statute (§ 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii)) lists rape; torture; trafficking; incest; domestic violence; sexual assault; abusive sexual contact; prostitution; sexual exploitation; stalking; female genital mutilation; being held hostage; peonage; involuntary servitude; slave trade; kidnapping; abduction; unlawful criminal restraint; false imprisonment; blackmail; extortion; manslaughter; murder; felonious assault; witness tampering; obstruction of justice; perjury; fraud in foreign labor contracting; and an attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit any of them — or “any similar activity” in violation of federal, state or local criminal law. The regulation treats an offense as similar when its nature and elements are substantially similar to a listed crime (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(a)(9)). The label the police or the state statute uses is not decisive; the elements are. The regulation's own list is older than the statute and omits stalking and fraud in foreign labor contracting, which the statute now includes.

Direct and indirect victims

A victim is someone who suffered direct and proximate harm from the crime. When the direct victim was killed in a murder or manslaughter, or is incompetent or incapacitated, certain relatives can petition as indirect victims: the spouse and children under 21, and — if the direct victim was under 21 — the parents and unmarried siblings under 18 (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(a)(14)(i)). A person who is culpable for the crime is not a victim (§ 214.14(a)(14)(iii)).

Family members who can be included

A principal who is 21 or older can include a spouse and children. A principal under 21 can also include parents and unmarried siblings under 18 (§ 1101(a)(15)(U)(ii)). Family members are added with Form I-918, Supplement A and receive U-2 to U-5 status; they do not count against the annual cap (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(f)). A family member who committed the crime cannot be included. The T visa for trafficking survivors and VAWA self-petitions for abused spouses, children and parents are separate paths — see the T visa and VAWA hubs.

The law enforcement certification: Form I-918, Supplement B

By statute, every U petition must include a certification from a federal, state or local law enforcement official, prosecutor, judge or other authority investigating criminal activity, stating that the person has been, is being or is likely to be helpful (INA § 214(p)(1), 8 U.S.C. § 1184(p)(1)). The certification is Form I-918, Supplement B. Three points decide many cases:

• Six months. The Supplement B must be signed by the certifying official within the six months immediately before the I-918 is filed (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(c)(2)(i)). A certification that is older when the petition arrives is not valid, and USCIS's bona fide review also requires one filed within six months of the signature (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 3, Part C, Chapter 5).
• It is required, but it is not the decision. USCIS reviews the whole record de novo and decides, “in its sole discretion,” how much weight to give the Supplement B (§ 214.14(c)(4)). A signed certification does not mean the petition will be approved.
• Helpfulness continues. The duty not to unreasonably refuse reasonable requests for help runs through the whole process, and it comes back at the green card stage (see below).

The investigation or prosecution does not have to end in a conviction; the regulation covers the detection, investigation, prosecution, conviction and sentencing stages (§ 214.14(a)(5)). Any of the authorities the statute lists that detected, investigated or prosecuted the crime can sign — for example the police, the prosecutor or a judge. Signing is the agency's decision; if none will sign, no other document substitutes for the Supplement B, because the statute requires one.

Filing Form I-918: forms, fees and evidence

The principal files Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status, with USCIS. USCIS has sole jurisdiction over U petitions, including for people in removal proceedings (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(c)(1)). The package usually contains:

• Form I-918 and the signed Supplement B (within six months of its signature);
• a signed personal statement describing the facts of the victimization (§ 214.14(c)(2)(iii));
• evidence of the abuse suffered, the helpfulness and the other requirements;
• Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant, if any ground of inadmissibility applies (§ 214.14(c)(2)(iv); see the waiver section);
• Supplement A for each qualifying family member, filed with the petition or later.

Fees. In the current USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055, edition 09/09/26), Form I-918, Supplement A and Supplement B are $0. Form I-192 is $1,100 in general but $0 for U petitioners, including derivatives; the same $0 applies to Forms I-193 and I-601 for people seeking U status. Work permit applications under the U categories — (a)(19), (a)(20) and (c)(14) — are $0. We found no fee under Public Law 119-21 (H.R. 1) on any U-specific line of the fee schedule, and H.R. 1 fees, where they apply elsewhere, cannot be waived.

Editions and where to file. As of September 27, 2026 the I-918 page lists the 01/20/25 edition and says a new edition will be published soon, while the 01/20/25 edition may still be used despite its expiration date. Every page of the form must be from the same edition. The page directs filers to one of four USCIS lockboxes (Elgin, Dallas, Phoenix or Chicago) according to where they live — check the page on the day of filing, because filing addresses change.

A petitioner who is in the United States and appears inadmissible for having entered without inspection, or for another reason, still files with USCIS; the waiver is part of the same filing.

The bona fide determination and the work permit

Because far more people qualify than the annual cap allows, most petitioners wait years for a final decision. Congress allowed USCIS to give work authorization earlier: “The Secretary may grant work authorization to any alien who has a pending, bona fide application” for U status (INA § 214(p)(6)). USCIS implements this through the bona fide determination (BFD), described in Policy Manual Vol. 3, Part C, Chapter 5.

Under that chapter, a principal's petition is bona fide when the principal has properly filed a complete I-918 with all required initial evidence (except the I-192), including a Supplement B submitted within six months of its signature and a personal statement, and USCIS has received the results of the background and security checks based on biometrics. If USCIS then decides to issue a BFD work permit, it also grants deferred action for the same period; both are valid for 4 years. Both are discretionary: USCIS weighs risk factors and may decline even when the petition is bona fide. Since a policy update of August 11, 2023, USCIS may also review whether a qualifying family member's petition is bona fide once the principal has received a bona fide determination.

What changed in 2025. The I-918 page states that as of February 4, 2025, the streamlined bona fide process was suspended, so petitions now receive the standard bona fide review. A proposed DHS rule of June 5, 2026 (91 FR 34352) would narrow discretionary work permits, including those for bona fide and waitlisted U petitioners — for example, for people with evidence of gang membership. Its comment period closed August 4, 2026; as of September 27, 2026 it is not final and the current rules still apply. A work permit, once granted, is the same card holders of other categories use; see our work authorization hub.

The 10,000 cap and the waiting list

No more than 10,000 principals can receive U-1 status in a fiscal year; family members are not counted (INA § 214(p)(2)). The I-918 page reports that USCIS reached the cap for fiscal year 2025 on September 9, 2025. Demand has been far above the cap for years: in Matter of Ibarra-Vega (2026) the Board noted that about 10,250 petitions were pending at the end of fiscal year 2011, shortly before its 2012 decision in Sanchez Sosa, and that demand is dramatically higher today.

A petitioner who is eligible but cannot receive status only because of the cap goes on the waiting list, in order of filing date (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(d)(2); Policy Manual Vol. 3, Part C, Chapter 6). While on it:

• USCIS will grant deferred action or parole to the principal and qualifying family members, and may authorize employment under 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(14);
• the petitioner does not accrue unlawful presence for the 3- and 10-year bars (§ 214.14(d)(3));
• USCIS may remove a person from the list, and end the deferred action or parole, as a matter of discretion — for example, for undisclosed conduct, a material misrepresentation or a removable offense.

USCIS generally does not make a separate waiting-list decision for someone who already has a BFD work permit and deferred action; the next step for them is the final decision when a visa number is available (Chapter 6).

Deferred action after May 8, 2026. USCIS Policy Alert PA-2026-01 made deferred action “an extraordinary use of prosecutorial discretion,” granted case by case and not to categories of people “unless specifically required by law or regulation.” The new Policy Manual Vol. 1, Part I, Chapter 3 says that, “under existing regulations,” USCIS grants deferred action or parole to U petitioners and family members on the waiting list, and also that people with a pending U petition “may be subject to removal, depending on the unique circumstances of each individual case.” Deferred action with a BFD work permit remains discretionary under Part C, Chapter 5.

The U visa in immigration court

An immigration judge cannot grant a U visa. A person in removal proceedings who wants U status must file the I-918 directly with USCIS (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(c)(1)(i)). The court case does not stop on its own; what happens to it depends on the tools below, and in 2025–2026 most of them narrowed.

Joint motion to terminate

The same regulation says ICE counsel “may agree, as a matter of discretion,” at the petitioner's request, to file a joint motion to terminate the proceedings without prejudice while USCIS decides the petition. It is ICE's choice, not the petitioner's right. EOIR's termination provisions in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.18(d) — which list prima facie eligibility for status before USCIS as a ground — were written by the 2024 rule discussed below, whose validity is now in question.

Continuances

In Matter of Sanchez Sosa, 25 I&N Dec. 807 (BIA 2012), the Board told immigration judges deciding whether to continue a case for a pending U petition to consider DHS's response, whether the petition is prima facie approvable — which ordinarily requires a signed law enforcement certification — and the reason for the continuance and other procedural factors. A prima facie approvable petition will ordinarily warrant a continuance for a reasonable period. The respondent should put copies of everything filed with USCIS into the court record.

Administrative closure after Ibarra-Vega and Texas v. DOJ

For years many U petitioners' cases were administratively closed — taken off the active calendar — while they waited. In Matter of Ibarra-Vega, 29 I&N Dec. 476 (BIA 2026), decided February 27, 2026, the Board held that when a U visa is not immediately available and the record does not show that one is likely to be available in the reasonably near future, administrative closure over DHS's objection is inappropriate. It ordered a case that had been closed since 2013 put back on the calendar, noting that the respondent had not shown a bona fide determination or a place on the waiting list, and that it and immigration judges have no authority to use closure as “a de facto extra-statutory form of relief.”

On June 22, 2026, in Texas v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 7:26-cv-00070 (N.D. Tex.), the court entered a consent judgment vacating EOIR's 2024 rule “Efficient Case and Docket Management in Immigration Proceedings,” 89 FR 46742, and enjoining its enforcement. That rule wrote the current administrative closure standard in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.18(c) and the termination provisions in § 1003.18(d); the eCFR still prints both, so the printed text alone is not a reliable guide. In practice, evidence that USCIS has made a bona fide determination or placed the petitioner on the waiting list now matters a great deal in court.

Stays of removal

A person with a final removal order may still file for U status, but filing does not stop ICE from carrying out the order (§ 214.14(c)(1)(ii)); a stay must be requested. If DHS finds that the petition sets out a prima facie case for approval, it may grant an administrative stay until the petition is approved or finally denied (INA § 237(d), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(d)). A stay can also be requested from ICE on Form I-246 under 8 C.F.R. § 241.6; see our stay of removal hub.

After USCIS decides

• Approval with an old order: a removal order issued by DHS is deemed canceled by operation of law. An order from an immigration judge or the Board must be addressed by a motion to reopen and terminate, and ICE may agree to join it so the usual time and number limits do not bar it (§ 214.14(c)(5)(i)); see our motions to reopen hub.
• Denial: the petitioner can appeal to USCIS's Administrative Appeals Office; if the court case had been terminated, DHS may file a new Notice to Appear, and any stay ends automatically when the denial becomes final (§ 214.14(c)(5)(ii)).

A U petition is one of several possible defenses; others — cancellation, asylum, adjustment — may be available at the same time. Our removal defense hub explains how a case in court is built.

For help with a U visa petition and the immigration-court side of the case, see our U visa & VAWA lawyer page. Our U visa and VAWA document checklist lists the papers to gather.

Waivers of inadmissibility: Form I-192

Many U petitioners are inadmissible — most often for having entered without inspection, for unlawful presence or a prior removal, or for a criminal record. The U visa has its own, unusually broad waiver: under INA § 212(d)(14), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(14), DHS may waive any ground of inadmissibility except § 212(a)(3)(E) (participation in Nazi persecution, genocide, torture or extrajudicial killing) if it considers the waiver to be in the public or national interest. No qualifying relative and no extreme hardship is required.

The waiver is requested on Form I-192 with the petition (8 C.F.R. § 212.17), at no fee for U petitioners. Its limits:

• for violent or dangerous crimes, USCIS will exercise discretion favorably only in extraordinary circumstances (§ 212.17(b)(2));
• there is no appeal of a denied waiver, although the person may file a new I-192 (§ 212.17(b)(3));
• a U nonimmigrant who needs a waiver of the unlawful presence bar triggered by a trip abroad must file the request before applying to re-enter (§ 212.17(a)).

Because the waiver is discretionary, a petition with a criminal record needs evidence of rehabilitation and of the public interest, not just of the crime suffered. Waivers for other paths to a green card work differently; see our inadmissibility waivers hub.

From U visa to green card: INA § 245(m)

U status lasts up to 4 years (INA § 214(p)(6)). It must be extended when a certifying official says the person's presence is needed for the investigation or prosecution, may be extended in exceptional circumstances, and is extended while a green card application under § 245(m) is pending. Extensions are requested on Form I-539; beyond four years, the certifying official must attest that the person's presence is still needed (8 C.F.R. § 214.14(g)(2)).

Under INA § 245(m), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(m) and 8 C.F.R. § 245.24, a U nonimmigrant can apply for permanent residence on Form I-485 if they:

• have been physically present for a continuous period of at least 3 years since admission in U status, continuing through the decision. A trip of more than 90 days, or trips totaling more than 180 days, breaks the period unless the absence was to assist the investigation or prosecution or a certifying official says it was otherwise justified;
• have not unreasonably refused to assist law enforcement after being granted U status, as shown by affirmative evidence (§ 245.24(b)(5));
• show that their continued presence is justified on humanitarian grounds, to ensure family unity, or in the public interest; and
• are not described in § 212(a)(3)(E).

USCIS has exclusive jurisdiction over § 245(m) applications (§ 245.24(k)) — an immigration judge cannot decide them. In the current fee schedule, the I-485 for a U nonimmigrant under § 245(m) and the related work permit are $0, and travel documents for people seeking or holding U status are fee-exempt. The public charge ground does not apply to U applicants or U visa holders (INA § 212(a)(4)(E)(ii)); the public charge rule that took effect September 18, 2026 (91 FR 45324) keeps that exemption. Leaving the United States while the I-485 is pending, without advance parole, abandons it (§ 245.24(j)).

Family members who never had U status — a spouse, child or, for a child principal, a parent — can be included through Form I-929 ($0; edition 01/20/25, filed at the USCIS address on the I-929 page) by showing that it is needed to avoid extreme hardship. USCIS cannot approve an I-929 until the principal's I-485 is approved (§ 245.24(g)–(h)). The adjustment process in general is explained in our adjustment of status hub.

What changed in 2025–2026

• February 4, 2025 — USCIS suspended the streamlined bona fide determination process (I-918 page).
• September 9, 2025 — USCIS reached the 10,000 cap for fiscal year 2025.
• February 27, 2026 — Matter of Ibarra-Vega: no administrative closure over DHS's objection for a U visa that is not available in the reasonably near future.
• May 8, 2026 — PA-2026-01 made deferred action an extraordinary, case-by-case exercise of discretion; waiting-list deferred action remains grounded in the regulation.
• June 5, 2026 — proposed rule 91 FR 34352 on discretionary work permits, including for bona fide and waitlisted U petitioners (not final).
• June 22, 2026 — Texas v. DOJ vacated EOIR's 2024 administrative closure and termination rule.
• September 9, 2026 — the current USCIS fee schedule keeps the U forms at $0.
• September 14, 2026 — USCIS proposed to renew Forms I-929 and I-192 without change (comments close November 13, 2026).

For background on why the U visa exists and the four requirements in plain terms, see our article The U Visa: Protection for Victims of Crime Who Help Police.

Carlos Maury, a former U.S. Immigration Judge, leads Carlos Maury Law; to talk about a U visa petition or a U visa case in immigration court, call (213) 769-0050. We speak Spanish.