Humanitarian and Diversity Visas

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VAWA, Violence Against Women Act

Under VAWA, noncitizen victims of domestic violence, child abuse, or elder abuse may “self-petition” for LPR status without the cooperation of an abusive spouse, parent, or adult child. Victims may also self-petition if they are divorced as long as the marriage to the abusive spouse was terminated within two years of filing the petition, and there is a connection between the divorce and the domestic violence.

If the self-petition is approved, it gives the applicant work authorization, deferred action, and approved noncitizen petition which allows them to apply for residency. There is no limit to the number of VAWA self-petitions that may be filed in any given year. To be eligible for a self-petitioning visa under VAWA, you must meet the following requirements:

• Must be a spouse or a former spouse (application filed within 2 years of divorce); or a child who files before turning 25; or a parent; of an abusive U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
• Good faith marriage if the abuser is a spouse or a stepparent
• Good moral character of the applicant

Residence with the abusive family member

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U Visas, Victims of Crime

This visa was created by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 to protect certain noncitizen crime victims who assist or are willing to assist in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense. A U visa grants the victim permission to live and work in the U.S.

Noncitizens with pending and granted U visa applications are eligible to receive a work permit. Applicants who apply for U visas from within the United States automatically receive work authorization when the application is approved. Family members included in the victim’s application are eligible to apply for a work permit if they are otherwise eligible to work.

There are up to 10,000 U visas available each year for principal applicants. Spouses and unmarried children (and, if the applicant is under 21, parents and unmarried minor siblings) of U-visa applicants may also qualify to be included in the victim’s application. There is no limit on the number of visas available for dependent family members. To be eligible for a U Visa, you must meet the following requirements:

• Suffered “substantial physical or mental abuse” as a victim of a certain criminal activity (i.e. rape, torture, trafficking, domestic violence, being held hostage, kidnapping, false imprisonment, extortion, etc.)
• The criminal activity must have violated the laws of the U.S. or occurred in the U.S.
• Must have information that concerns the criminal activity
• Must be able to help or have been helpful to a federal, state, or local investigation or prosecution of the criminal activity
• Must obtain a certification from a law-enforcement officer, prosecutor, judge, DHS, or other federal or state authorities investigating or prosecuting the criminal activity

Must be admissible under immigration law or qualify for a waiver of inadmissibility

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T Visas, Victims of Severe Forms of Trafficking

This visa was created to provide immigration relief to victims of “severe forms of human trafficking.” Trafficking is defined as:

(1) – sex trafficking where a commercial sex act is induced by fraud, force, coercion or where the victim is younger than 18 or

(2) – recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude or slavery

A T visa protects recipients from removal and gives them permission to work in the United States. Bona fide T-visa applicants also have access to the same benefits as refugees, including cash assistance, food assistance, and job training. There are up to 5,000 T visas available each year. Spouses and unmarried children (and, if the applicant is under 21, parents and unmarried minor siblings) of T-visa applicants may also qualify as dependent family members of the trafficking victim. There is no limit on the number of visas available for qualified family members. To be eligible for a T Visa, you must meet the following requirements:

• Victim of severe form of trafficking
• Physically present in the U.S. on account of trafficking
• Assists law-enforcement officers in the investigation or prosecution of the traffickers
• Demonstrate that you will suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if removed from the U.S.

Asylum is a protection granted to foreign nationals already in the United States or arriving at the border who meet the international law definition of a “refugee.” The United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol

define a refugee – as a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country, and cannot obtain protection in that country, due to past persecution or a well-founded fear of being persecuted in the future “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Individuals who fail to apply for asylum within one year of entering the United States will be barred from receiving asylum.

There are two primary ways in which a person may apply for asylum in the United States: the affirmative process and the defensive process.

Affirmative Asylum: A person who is not in removal proceedings may affirmatively apply for asylum through USCIS. If the USCIS asylum officer does not grant the asylum application and the applicant does not have a lawful immigration status, they are referred to the immigration court for removal proceedings, where they may renew the request for asylum through the defensive process and appear before an immigration judge.

Defensive Asylum: A person who is in removal proceedings may apply for asylum defensively by filing the application with an immigration judge at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Department of Justice. Asylum seekers who arrive at a U.S. port of entry or enter the United States without inspection generally must apply through the defensive asylum process.

Immigration Options for Family of Certain Military Members and Veterans. Parole in place allows a foreign national who came into the United States without authorization by an immigration officer to stay for a certain period. Parole is considered a lawful immigration status for purposes of certain immigration benefits.

Once on parole in place, married to a United States Citizen or Permanent Resident or have a U.S. Citizen child over the age of 21, you will be able to Adjust your status and get your green card.

By creating more diversity in our immigration pool, the Diversity Immigrant Visa program helps balance the current U.S. immigration system’s tendency to favor individuals who have close relationships with family members or employers in the United States.

The program is well known as the “diversity lottery,” since potential visa recipients are randomly selected from the pool of qualified entries. When you are randomly selected, it provides the individual an opportunity to apply for the Diversity Visa. To be eligible for a Diversity Visa, you must meet the following requirements:

• Nationals of low-admission countries (fewer than 50,000 natives admitted to the US in the previous 5 years)
• Eligible countries are grouped into 6 geographic regions:
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Oceania
  • North America (excluding Mexico)
  • South America
  • Mexico
  • Central America
  • Caribbean
• Applicants must be admissible to the US

Have either a high school education (its equivalent) or at least 2 years of recent qualifying work experience