Will a U Visa Ever Lead to a Green Card?

If you have received a U visa or status as a victim of a serious crime assisting U.S. law enforcement, you might be able to adjust your status to "permanent resident" (and receive your green card) after three years of continuous presence in the United States. You should apply for a green card as soon you can, because you must continue to be eligible as a U visa crime victim when you apply, and because your U visa is temporary: it expires in a mere four years. This article provides information about which U visa holders can apply for a U.S. green card.

To learn more about how to obtain a U visa, see U Visas for Crime Victims Assisting Law Enforcement: Who Is Eligible.

Which U Nonimmigrants Are Eligible for a U.S. Green Card

At the time you apply for a green card, you must continue to be eligible for U nonimmigrant status. This means that you must be in valid U status (your four years cannot have run out), and you must be continuing to assist U.S. law enforcement by providing helpful information, to be used to investigate and prosecute the criminals who victimized you. You must not have abandoned this status in any way (for example, by refusing to cooperate with government agencies or by living outside the United States for an extended period of time).

You might be eligible to apply for permanent residence after meeting the following requirements:

• you have been physically present in the U.S. continuously for at least three years (but haven't yet passed the four-year mark such that your U status has run out)
• you have not unreasonably refused to cooperate with the U.S. law enforcement officials investigating and prosecuting the crime against you, and
• your continued presence in the United States is justified either on humanitarian grounds, to ensure family unity, or is in the public interest.

You will have a more difficult time showing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that you are eligible for a green card if your help is no longer necessary to investigate and prosecute the crime against you (for example, the criminal case is now closed and a government official will not vouch for your "helpfulness"). Be prepared to show that you have a long history of helping government officials, including a new certification from a qualifying government agency.

Keep reading for more information on the above-mentioned requirements for eligibility.

You Have Continuous U.S. Physical Presence of at Least Three Years

In order to successfully apply for U.S. permanent residence, you must provide evidence showing USCIS that you have lived in the United States continuously for three years. "Continuous" presence for immigration purposes means that you have not taken a trip outside the U.S. for 90 days or more or spent more than 180 days abroad during your time in U status.

For various reasons, it's best not to travel outside of the United States while in U status. However, if you did travel, you can demonstrate your continuous presence by documenting each trip outside the U.S. (to show that you were abroad only briefly) and providing proof that you now make your life in the United States. This can include copies of pay stubs, IRS tax transcripts, school records, and affidavits from people who know you who can attest to your U.S. presence.

If you can't show continuous presence in the United States, you will need to provide a written explanation by a government official working on your case stating that your presence outside the U.S. was necessary in order to assist the investigation or prosecution of the crime or that it was otherwise justified.

You Must Continue to Cooperate With Law Enforcement

In order to be eligible for a green card, you must continue to provide helpful information to law enforcement officials and cannot have "unreasonably refused" to provide requested assistance. Do your best to remain in contact with the certifying law enforcement agency during the pendency of your U visa, so as to maintain a positive relationship with the agency.

Ideally, you will submit another certification of helpfulness (Form I-918 Supplement B, U Nonimmigrant Status Certification) with your green card application as proof that you are a willing participant in the investigation and prosecution of the crime (or crimes) against you. For more on this, read What's Needed for a U Visa Certification of Helpfulness.

If you are unable to obtain another certification of helpfulness, contact an experienced immigration attorney to help you, because you will need to submit an affidavit and other supporting evidence showing all of your contacts and meetings with law enforcement officials. You will also need to explain that you attempted to obtain a certification from a qualifying agency, but were unable to do so for good reason.

Additionally, if you ever refused a request for cooperation, you must explain the reasons why. USCIS will determine whether the law enforcement request was "unreasonable" given a variety of factors. This will depend on the nature of the crime, your circumstances, and the extent of the assistance required.

For example, if you are a rape victim and a police investigator asked you to meet with your attacker, USCIS would consider it to be an unreasonable request, and you would be excused from refusing it. However, if a police officer asked you to identify your attacker in a lineup where he would not see you and you then refused, your denial might cost you a green card.

Your Residence Is Justified on Humanitarian, Family Unity, or Public Interest Grounds

U visa holders seeking green cards do not (unless they plan to travel before their adjustment of status is granted) have to formally apply for a waiver of any newly applicable inadmissibility grounds like many others do. The only ground of inadmissibility that applies to U adjustment applicants and cannot be waived is for participants in Nazi persecution, genocide, and extrajudicial killings.

Also, any previously granted waivers of inadmissibility (from when you first applied for a U visa or status) will still be good when you are applying to adjust status.

However, adjustment of status to permanent residence from a U visa is a complete discretionary benefit, which means it is completely up to the USCIS officer adjudicating your case whether or not to grant it. Therefore, you should submit evidence with your application to show USCIS that you "deserve" a green card, such as family ties in the U.S., achievements and accomplishments, and any reasons why that you would be subjected to hardship if you were to return to your home country. This is especially important if there are any negative factors or new grounds of inadmissibility in your record (such as arrests or criminal convictions).

Your Immediate Relatives May Also Apply for U.S. Green Cards

If you have qualifying family members in the U.S. in derivative U status, the procedures to apply for adjustment of status are the same as for the principal U applicant.

However, if you have an immediate family member (a spouse, children, or parents; the latter if you are under age 21) who has never received U derivative status, your relative can also apply for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa at the same time you apply or after your approval. You can file Form I-929, Petition for Qualifying Family Member of U-1 Nonimmigrant, with USCIS.

You must show that you or your family member would be subjected to "extreme hardship" if you weren't permitted to reside together in the United States. This is not an easy task, so you should consult an immigration attorney to help you.

If You Qualify, What Documents You Will Need to Apply for a Green Card

To apply to adjust your status to permanent resident, you and every one of your derivative family members (spouse and minor unmarried children, if any) will need to file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status with USCIS. You can sign the form for any children under age 14.

Along with the completed I-485(s), you should include:

• Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, filled out by a USCIS-approved civil surgeon. (See What the Medical Exam for a U.S. Green Card Involves.)
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and supporting documentation. (For instructions, see Filling Out Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.)
• Form I-131, Application for Travel Document and supporting documentation. (To learn more, please read Filling Out Form I-131 for Advance Parole.)
• A copy of Form I-797, Notice of Action, showing that USCIS approved you for U nonimmigrant status,
• A copy of your I-94, Arrival/Departure Record (All arriving foreign visitors had this white card stapled into their passports until this form was automated for most people in April 2013, and can now be obtained from the CBP website).
• A copy of every page of every passport you have held during U status, including the U nonimmigrant visa page. If you do not have a U visa because you have not departed the U.S. since you were granted U status, you should make copies of all of your passport pages anyways. If you don't have a passport, provide an explanation within your affidavit as to why you do not have one, such as loss or theft.
• A copy of your birth certificate (along with an English translation).
• Two passport-style photos (which it's best to have professionally taken).
• Evidence that you have three years of continuous physical presence in the U.S.: This can include tax transcripts (though really, this mostly proves you were in the U.S. on the day you submitted your taxes, so don't expect this to be enough by itself), pay stubs, leases, receipts, and utility bills for a U.S. residence, a letter from your school or employer, or affidavits from those who can vouch for your U.S. presence.
• Affidavit written by you, attesting to your continuous physical presence and more. (See Creating Substitute Documents or Affidavits for Immigration Applications.) This is also the place to explain any gaps in the evidence of your ongoing presence. While you're at it, experts recommend that your affidavit explain and summarize other key points in your application, such as your ongoing willingness to comply with requests for help from law enforcement officials and positive humanitarian factors in favor of a grant of adjustment of status.
• Evidence that you complied with requests for assistance from U.S. law enforcement officials: The best evidence of this is a new Form I-918 Supplement B, which you obtained in order to receive U status when you applied. For more information on what this involves, read What's Needed for a U Certification of Helpfulness. If you could not obtain one, you will need to provide an affidavit describing your attempts to contact law enforcement officials during your time in U status and a reason for any failure to comply with a request for cooperation.
• Evidence that you "deserve" permanent residence: Again, though U-1 visa holders are not subject to many of the inadmissibility grounds that many others face when applying for a green card, or can more easily obtain waivers for them in the process of applying for the U visa, you'll need to overcome any new grounds of inadmissibility that have arisen in your case since your U visa grant. Because adjustment of status for U visa-holders is dependent on whether USCIS believes it is justified, be prepared to submit evidence that you should be granted a green card on humanitarian, public interest, or family unity grounds.
• Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant, if any new grounds of inadmissibility have arisen in your case and you wish to travel outside the United States before adjustment is granted. This is so that the ground can be waived before you apply for a U visa at the overseas U.S. consulate, which, assuming you were granted U status while in the United States (and therefore have no U visa passport stamp) you will need to do for reentry. If you fail to receive this waiver in advance of your travel, you will likely either be denied a U visa or blocked from reentry. Or even if you are allowed reentry, USCIS could decide you didn't enter in "lawful" U status, which could affect your adjustment eligibility.

After you compile all of this information, make a copy for your files and send it to the address shown on the I-485 website. Family members who have derivative U status and wish to adjust status to permanent resident may also submit a Form I-485 if they meet the requirements above.

If you have a family member who has never held U status, you may apply for immigration benefits for them after you receive a receipt notice to document your pending I-485 petition, by filing Form I-929, Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U-1 Nonimmigrant.

As of April 1, 2024, applicants for a U visa adjustment of status do not owe any USCIS filing fees.

What Will Happen After Filing Adjustment Application With USCIS

After you file Form I-485, you should first receive a receipt notice, and later, a biometrics appointment notice where you will have your photograph, fingerprints, and signature taken.

If anything seems to be missing in your application, or USCIS is concerned by possible adverse factors such as criminal convictions, it will send you a request for evidence (RFE). You'll need to respond by a certain deadline. See How to Handle a Request for Evidence (RFE) From USCIS.

If USCIS has additional questions about your application after it is complete, you might be scheduled to interview at your local office, though this is extremely rare. If you are called in for an interview, make sure to bring a copy of everything you sent to USCIS, as well as a foreign-language interpreter if you are not fluent in English. See Rules for Bringing Interpreters to Immigration (USCIS) Interviews.

Getting Legal Help

Consulting with an attorney or a nonprofit organization can be an excellent idea to help you prepare a convincing application for USCIS, particularly if new grounds of inadmissibility have arisen in your case. An attorney can assist you in gathering documentation that satisfies the relevant requirements and see your case to a positive decision.