Immigration

It will likely take many years to get your U visa from the day that you apply for it. As of April 2024, the USCIS website reported that 80% of U visa petitions were processed for review for a bona fide determination or waitlist placement within about five years. As discussed below, the bona fide determination and waitlist placements are not final decisions in your case.

The wait for the final decision in a U visa case is much longer than five years. In March 2024, USCIS stated they were reviewing cases filed in or before November 2016. Therefore, any petition filed now would likely take as long as ten years to be reviewed for a final decision because thousands more petitions have been filed since 2016 and are already ahead of you in line waiting to be reviewed. One reason it takes so long is that Congress limited the number of U visas the government can give out to 10,000 per year,¹ but far more than 10,000 people apply for U visas each year, so the line of petitions waiting to get reviewed gets longer and longer every year.

Because it is taking so long for the government to review U visa petitions, USCIS may give you a work permit and deferred action while you wait for a final decision. Deferred action is not an immigration status, but it allows USCIS to give you a work permit so you can work legally while you wait for a decision on your U visa. Having deferred action also means that the government thinks you are a low priority for deportation, so it is less likely that you will be deported while you wait for your U visa.

There are two ways to get a work permit and deferred action: (1) through a bona fide determination;² or (2) through the waitlist.³ It’s important to understand, however, that either process will likely take several years from the day you submit your U visa petition.

Bona fide determination
For the bona fide determination, USCIS does a basic review of your petition to see if the U visa petition (Form I-918) and the law enforcement certification (Form I-918 Supplement B) were complete and properly filed. In addition, they will make sure that you provided a personal statement about the crime, and they will run a criminal background check on you. Based on your criminal background check and any other information in your file about your criminal and immigration record, USCIS will weigh the pros and cons of giving you a work permit and deferred action. If the pros outweigh the cons, USCIS will give you a work permit and deferred action for four years, which you can renew until your U visa is finally decided. USCIS will not give you a bona fide determination and work permit if any of the following are true:

• your Form I-918 or Form I-918 Supplement B are not complete and properly filed;
• you do not provide a personal statement;
• you do not complete your fingerprints (biometrics); or
• USCIS believes you are a threat to public safety or national security.

If you receive a bona fide determination and your derivative family members are in the United States, USCIS can also give them a work permit and deferred action. Your derivatives would need to show that their derivative petition form (Form I-918 Supplement A) was complete and properly filed and that they have a qualifying relationship to you; in other words, they must show evidence that they are your spouse, child under 21, or if you were under 21 when you filed your U visa, that they are your parent or unmarried sibling under 18. USCIS will also do a criminal background check on them and weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether to give them a four-year work permit and deferred action. USCIS will not give your family members a bona fide determination and work permit if any of the following are true:

• you (the primary petitioner) do not also receive a bona fide determination;
• their Form I-918 Supplement A is not complete and properly filed;
• they do not include evidence of their relationship to you;
• they do not complete their fingerprints (biometrics); or
• USCIS believes your family members are a threat to public safety or national security.

Waitlist
If after doing a basic review of your petition, USCIS decides not to give you a work permit through the bona fide determination, they will do a full review of your petition. If they think that they are likely to approve your U visa petition, but they have run out of visas to give out in the current year, they will put you on a waitlist and give you a work permit and deferred action for four years, which you can renew until a U visa is available for you. USCIS will also put your derivatives on the waitlist and give them deferred action and a work permit, if they are in the United States and USCIS thinks it is likely to approve your derivatives’ applications.

It may take USCIS several years to complete either a bona fide determination or waitlist review of your case because so many people have applied for U visas and their petitions are already waiting in line. While you are waiting for the bona fide determination or waitlist, you will not have a work permit or any legal status or protection from deportation.

Many attorneys are now seeking help from federal courts to get U visa petitioners their work permits faster and to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deporting U visa petitioners who are waiting for the government to decide their cases. If your attorney is considering filing in federal court, please first ask your attorney to contact ASISTA, a national non-profit specializing in immigration law, for help with this.

¹ INA § 214(p)(2)
² USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 3, Part C, Chp. 5
³ 8 CFR § 214.14(d)(2); USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 3, Part C, Chp. 5(c)(5)

You can apply for lawful permanent residence after you have had your U visa for three years and before your U visa expires.¹ To get lawful permanent residence, all of the following must be true:

1. You have been physically in the U.S. for a “continuous period” of at least three years since the date you got U visa status. A “continuous period” means that you cannot leave the U.S. for 90 days in a row or for 180 days in total while in U visa status, unless the reason you left was related to the criminal investigation or prosecution.² (If your U visa was granted when you were outside of the U.S., the three years starts from the day that you come into the U.S. with a U visa.)
2. If law enforcement asked you for more help related to the criminal investigation or prosecution since you got your U visa, you did not unreasonably refuse to provide that help.³
3. Your continued presence in the US is “justified on humanitarian grounds, to ensure family unity, or it is in the public interest.”⁴ USCIS will weigh the pros and cons of your case in deciding whether to approve your green card. Generally, if you do not have any negative factors, such as criminal history or significant immigration violations, it will be considered “in the public interest” for you to continue to be in the U.S. and so USCIS will likely approve your green card application.⁵ If you do have negative factors in your case, USCIS will weigh them as “cons” in deciding your case.

After you file your application for permanent residence, you will need to wait for USCIS to make its decision, which could take as long as two years, sometimes longer. While you wait for the decision, USCIS will extend your U visa status, and you can apply for or renew your work permit.⁶

¹ INA § 245(m); 8 CFR § 245.24(b)
² INA § 245(m)(1)(A), (m)(2); 8 CFR § 245.24(b)(3). (e)
³ INA § 245(m)(1); 8 CFR § 245.24(b)(5)
⁴ INA § 245(m)(1)(B); 8 CFR § 245.24(b)(6)      
⁵ See Matter of Arai, 13 I&N Dec. 494 (BIA 1970) (“In the absence of adverse factors, adjustment will ordinarily be granted, still as a matter of discretion”)
⁶ INA § 214(p)(6); 8 CFR § 274a.12(c)(9)