Immigration

U visa applicants will receive a work permit automatically after the application is approved. However, there are 10,000 U visas available per year to principal applicants, which means that cases that are “approvable” will be placed on a U visa waitlist. If an applicant is on the waitlist, they will also have a work permit which they can renew until a U visa becomes available. Unfortunately, as of 2021, it is currently taking about 58 months (over 4.5 years) for cases to be considered for the waitlist. Currently (as of February 2021), we hear that cases are being considered for the U visa waitlist that were filed in August 2015-February 2016. Until an applicant’s case is approved for the waitlist, there is currently no access to work authorization just based on a pending application. You can read more information on our website and for information on your specific case, please talk to your lawyer. If you don’t have a lawyer who did the U visa for you, here are links for lawyers in STATE [HYPERLINK} so you can find an immigration attorney who specializes in U visas and some are national organizations that deal with immigration you may want to contact.