U-Visas
Hi, everyone. Yifei He, your immigration lawyer. Today I'm gonna be talking about the U visa. What is the U visa? It's when an individual, who has been a victim of crime, helps law enforcement and receives temporary status in the US, which can lead to permanent status. A green card.
And how do you become a U visa recipient?
First of all, you have you have had to been a victim of a crime. For example, you've been robbed. You've been, strangled by your spouse. You've been kidnapped. These are all qualifying crimes. And you've given aid to law enforcement. You told them, for example, who committed the crime against you. You testified against the people who committed the crimes against you. You've gotten these people in trouble. And the purpose of the U visa is so that law enforcement can work with these immigrants, who don't have to hide in the shadows. And these immigrants can themselves get status through the U visa.
And a lot of times with the U visa, people who are subjected to crimes, they themselves are also involved in crime. So there's several waivers of inadmissibility that you have to submit, if you wanna be qualified for the U visa. For example, if you yourself have criminal convictions in the past, you have to prove to USCIS that you have family ties here and that giving you the U visa would be beneficial to society. Beneficial for the U.S. versus taking you out of the country based on your previous convictions. So the U visa is a very important tool. It can save you from deportation. It can give you status in the U. S. Can lead to a green card if you spend three years in the United States after receiving the U visa. And it can also give you work papers once you get the U Visa.
So far every year, Congress only qualified 20,000U visa recipients, so there's a huge backlog of the U visas. But then, under Joe Biden, he's instituted executive orders and legislations that expanded the 20,000 cap, to over 50,000 or even double that. So we're still waiting, but right now the U visa is still a viable alternative for a lot of people don't have options.
And here at the law office of Yifei He we help with U visas. We specialize in U visas. We've had a lot of grants of U visas. Despite the long wait period. And we're here to put the Grant in immigrant.
Thank you.