Checklist for Applying for Nonimmigrant U Visa or Status

Are you a foreign-born crime victim assisting U.S. law enforcement, who is preparing to submit an application for a U visa or U status? (If you're still researching whether you're eligible, see U Visas for Crime Victims Assisting Law Enforcement: Who Is Eligible.) If you're ready to apply, below is a helpful checklist of the items you will need to accompany the U visa petition on Form 918 that you must submit to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

• USCIS Form I-918 (available as a free download on the I-918 page of the USCIS website)
• USCIS Form I-918, Supplement A (if you are also applying for derivative status for a qualifying family member; see CAUTION below re: signatures)
• USCIS Form I-918, Supplement B (completed and certified by a qualifying agency). For more on this, see What's Needed for a U Visa Certification of Helpfulness.
• Supporting documents to indicate your eligibility, including:
  
  • Personal narrative statement, describing how you are a victim of criminal activity and the circumstances surrounding the crime. You can use this statement to show that you were not at fault in the criminal activity and to supply any information that proves that you were helpful (if you called law enforcement authorities to report the crime, for example) or the extent of your resulting injuries.
  • Evidence that you are the victim of a qualifying criminal activity. This could include trial transcripts, newspaper articles, police reports, affidavits, or orders of protection (restraining orders).
  • Evidence that you suffered substantial physical or mental abuse. This could include affidavits from case or social workers, medical personnel, and police, photographs of injuries, and affidavits from people who have personal knowledge of the criminal activity.
  • Evidence that you have helpful information about the crime. Form I-918, Supplement B should be sufficient for this, but if you have any further information about how you are being helpful to authorities in providing information about the crime, do submit it.
  • Evidence that the crime violated U.S. laws. Again, Form I-918, Supplement B should cover this, but if you have any additional information about the crime, especially if it occurred outside of the U.S. (but violated U.S. federal law), you should provide this evidence.

• Request for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility, if applicable. To ask for a waiver (legal forgiveness of your or a derivative family member's inadmissibility to the U.S.), submit USCIS Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant. You'll need to pay a fee, via either check or money order made payable to "U.S. Department of Homeland Security" or by credit card using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. The amount is $1,100 as of April 1, 2024. If you cannot afford this amount, you may apply for a fee waiver.
• Information to prove relationship of derivative family members. Provide documentation to prove that your family member qualifies for derivative U status (for example, birth or marriage certificates). Make sure that any foreign language documents are accompanied by a full English translation, which is certified as complete and accurate by a translator competent to translate from the foreign language into English.
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and appropriate filing fees for any derivative family members who wish to work and are currently in the United States. If the principal petitioner's I-918 is approved, USCIS will send an EAD, but family members must separately submit Forms I-765 if they need their own EADs.

CAUTION: In 2020, USCIS changed its internal guidance to require derivative U-visa applicants to sign the Form I-918A. Although the instructions to the form make it appear that this requirement applies only to derivatives present in the U.S., attorneys subsequently reported that USCIS was actively rejecting Forms I-918A that weren't signed by derivatives, even those living abroad. Nevertheless, if a derivative is under age 14, a parent or legal guardian may sign instead.

Getting Legal Help

If all of this still seems overwhelming (as it easily can), it might be time to hire an experienced immigration attorney to help analyze your eligibility and prepare the paperwork and any arguments to USCIS.