U Visa Updates: Eligibility, Waivers, and Green Card Path

The U visa is a temporary immigration status Congress created in 2000 for people without legal status who were victims of serious crime and are willing to help law enforcement investigate or prosecute it. It provides work authorization, protection from deportation, and, after three years, a path to a green card. Federal law caps approvals at 10,000 per fiscal year, and USCIS hit the fiscal year 2025 cap on September 9, 2025, so the wait for a final decision now stretches years.¹

Who Qualifies

Three things have to line up. You must have been the victim of a qualifying crime, you must have suffered substantial physical or mental harm, and you must have helped, be helping, or be likely to help law enforcement with the case.²

The list of qualifying crimes is specific. It includes domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, trafficking, kidnapping, felonious assault, murder, manslaughter, torture, stalking, and fraud in foreign labor contracting. It also covers abduction, blackmail, extortion, false imprisonment, hostage situations, incest, involuntary servitude, obstruction of justice, peonage, perjury, prostitution, sexual exploitation, slave trade, unlawful criminal restraint, and witness tampering. Attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations to commit any of these count. If the crime you experienced is not on the list by name, it may still qualify if its elements are substantially similar to a listed offense.³

Forms and Evidence

The core petition is Form I-918. There is no filing fee for the I-918 or its supplements.⁴ Along with it, you submit:

Form I-918, Supplement B, signed by a law enforcement official, prosecutor, judge, or other certifying authority confirming that you have been, are being, or are likely to be helpful in the investigation or prosecution.⁵
A personal statement describing the crime, what happened to you, and the harm you suffered.⁶
A separate Supplement A for each family member you want to include as a derivative.

The Supplement B expires six months after the certifier signs it. That deadline is the most common trap in U visa filing. If you obtain the certification but miss the six-month window, you have to go back to the agency and ask for a new one, which is not always possible. Treat the certifier’s signature date as the clock that controls your entire filing timeline.¹

As of October 31, 2025, the I-918 goes to a USCIS lockbox rather than a service center. The correct lockbox address depends on where you live and is published on the USCIS filing address table. Petitioners living outside the United States mail their petitions to the Phoenix lockbox.⁷ Use a trackable mailing service. After USCIS receives your petition, it issues a Form I-797C receipt notice with a case number you can use to check status online.

The Annual Cap and the Waitlist

Only 10,000 principal (U-1) visas can be issued each fiscal year. Petitions approved after the cap is reached go onto a waitlist, and cases move off the waitlist in the order they were filed. Because demand has exceeded 10,000 for years, many petitioners spend years on the waitlist even after USCIS has found their petitions eligible.¹

Work Permits and Deportation Protection During the Wait

Because the wait is so long, USCIS in June 2021 introduced the Bona Fide Determination process. It gives properly filed petitioners access to a work permit and deferred action years before their case reaches full adjudication.¹

USCIS finds a petition bona fide when the I-918 is complete, a signed Supplement B has been submitted within its six-month validity window, and biometrics-based background and security checks have come back. The I-192 waiver, if you need one, does not have to be approved for the BFD. If your petition clears that step and a discretionary review for national security and public safety concerns, USCIS grants deferred action, which temporarily shields you from removal while you wait.⁸

A positive BFD comes with an Employment Authorization Document valid for four years. To receive it, you file Form I-765 under eligibility category (c)(14).⁹ Certain arrests or convictions, including violent crimes, weapons offenses, exploitation offenses, and drug distribution offenses, generally cause USCIS to skip the BFD benefits and move straight to full adjudication, though the agency keeps discretion to grant BFD relief in unusual circumstances.⁸

Family Members You Can Include

Which relatives you can include depends on your age when you file. If you are under 21, you can include your spouse, children, parents, and unmarried siblings under 18. If you are 21 or older, only your spouse and children qualify.¹⁰ Derivatives receive their own classifications: U-2 for a spouse, U-3 for a child, U-4 for a parent, and U-5 for a qualifying sibling.

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 freezes a derivative’s age as of the date the principal files the I-918. A child who was under 21 at filing keeps that status even if they turn 21 while the petition is pending, and a sibling under 18 at filing remains eligible even if they turn 18. These protections run only while the I-918 is pending.

Family members can also receive BFD work authorization, but each derivative petition has to pass the bona fide standard on its own, including background checks and credible evidence of the qualifying family relationship.⁸

Waivers for Inadmissibility

If you have an immigration violation, certain criminal history, or another ground that would otherwise make you inadmissible, you can request a waiver by filing Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant. It can be filed with the I-918 or later. You do not need an approved I-192 for a Bona Fide Determination, but you do need one before USCIS can grant you U status.¹¹

Unlike the I-918, the I-192 may carry a fee. If your household income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, you may qualify for a fee waiver using Form I-912.¹²

Traveling Before Your Petition Is Decided

Leaving the country while your U visa petition is pending is risky. USCIS may treat your petition as abandoned if you depart without an approved advance parole document. To travel internationally and preserve a pending petition, you file Form I-131 and wait for approval before you leave.¹³ Even with advance parole, reentry is not guaranteed, and any absence can complicate your case. If you already hold U status, extended absences can also disrupt the continuous physical presence you need for a green card.

From U Visa to Green Card

U-1 status is temporary, but it opens a road to lawful permanent residence. After three years of continuous physical presence in U-1 status, you can file Form I-485 to adjust status. You must still hold U-1 status when you file, and you must remain physically present through the date USCIS decides your application.¹⁴

To adjust, you also have to show that you have not unreasonably refused to help with the investigation or prosecution since being admitted in U-1 status, that your continued presence is justified on humanitarian grounds, to preserve family unity, or in the public interest, and that you deserve a favorable exercise of discretion.

Absences count against continuous presence. A single trip over 90 days, or trips totaling more than 180 days, require a certification from the law enforcement agency that signed your Supplement B explaining that the absences were necessary for the investigation or prosecution or were otherwise justified.¹⁴ Family members holding derivative U status can also apply for adjustment.¹⁰

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Criminal Activity: U Nonimmigrant Status
3
U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 402.6 – Witnesses, Informants and Victims: S, T, and U Visas
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-918, Instructions for Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Supplement B, U Nonimmigrant Status Certification
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Lockbox and Service Center Filing Location Updates
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 3 Part C Chapter 5 – Bona Fide Determination Process
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. National Engagement – U Visa and Bona Fide Determination Process Frequently Asked Questions
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for a Victim of a Crime (U Nonimmigrant)
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Poverty Guidelines
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Application for Travel Document
14
eCFR. 8 CFR 245.24 – Adjustment of Aliens in U Nonimmigrant Status