U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved the statutory
maximum 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status (U visas) for fiscal year
2013. This marks the fourth straight year that USCIS has reached the statutory
maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2008.
Each year, 10,000 U visas are available for victims of crime who have
suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to help law
enforcement authorities investigate or prosecute those crimes. A U-visa petition
requires certification of assistance from law enforcement.
The U-visa program was created by Congress to strengthen the law
enforcement community’s ability to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic
violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes while also
offering protection to victims. More than 76,000 victims and their family
members have received U visas since the program was implemented.
USCIS will continue to accept U-visa petitions and process them in the order
in which they are received. USCIS will resume issuing U visas on October 1, 2013,
the first day of fiscal year 2014 and is when visas will be available again.
To read the USCIS release, please click: USCIS Approves 10,000 U Visas for Fourth Straight Fiscal Year
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