U Victim of Criminal Activity, U-1 through U-5
U nonimmigrant status protects victims of certain crimes who suffered substantial physical or mental abuse and who have been, are, or are likely to be helpful to law enforcement in investigating or prosecuting the crime. It gives four years of status, work authorisation and a route to a green card. The 10,000 annual cap has produced a backlog measured in years, which the bona fide determination process partially mitigates by delivering deferred action and work authorisation while people wait.
- Duration
- Four years from the grant of U nonimmigrant status.
- Extensions
- Available in limited circumstances: on a law enforcement request, for exceptional circumstances, because of delays in consular processing, or automatically on the filing and pendency of an adjustment of status application.
- Work
- Yes. A U-1 principal is employment authorised incident to status and receives an EAD automatically once the petition is approved, with no Form I-765 needed. Derivatives inside the United States are also authorised incident to status but must file Form I-765 to get the card. Employment authorisation for both can only issue after the underlying petition is approved. Separately, petitioners with a pending bona fide petition, or placed on the waiting list, can get deferred action and an EAD by filing Form I-765; there is no fee for the initial bona fide determination or waiting list EAD, or for renewing one.
- Dual intent
- limited - U status is humanitarian and carries a statutory adjustment route under INA 245(m), so pursuing permanent residence is expected. Departure intent is not part of the test.
- Dependents
- If you are under 21 you may petition for a spouse, children, parents and unmarried siblings under 18. If you are 21 or over you may petition for a spouse and children. Use Form I-918 Supplement A, filed with your petition or later. The principal's petition must be approved before family members become eligible for derivative status. Family members are not counted against the 10,000 cap.
- Path to a green card
- Adjustment of status under INA 245(m) after three years of continuous physical presence in U status, where you have not unreasonably refused to assist law enforcement. Form I-485 is fee-exempt for U nonimmigrants. Form I-929 exists to petition for a qualifying family member who never held derivative U status, and is also fee-exempt.
- Processing time
- Long, and the published figure does not mean what it looks like. the published median for Form I-918 was 18.5 months for fiscal year 2026 through June 30, 2026, down from 46.1 months in fiscal year 2024, but that fall is a change of yardstick rather than faster service. Footnote 7 of the USCIS historical processing times page records that from fiscal year 2022 the figure is measured from receipt to bona fide determination review, where it used to run to the waiting list determination. Neither measures time to a visa. The real wait to a U-1 grant is set by the 10,000 cap: from Oct. 1, 2025 USCIS was approving petitions filed on or before April 30, 2017, roughly eight and a half years back. The bona fide determination and waiting list processes supply deferred action and work authorisation in the meantime. Do not use the U Nonimmigrant Status Program Updates page for current information: it was last reviewed in May 2017 and its two entries predate the bona fide determination process entirely.
- Annual cap and waiting lines
- 10,000 U visas a year to principal petitioners. Qualifying family members are not subject to the cap. When the cap is reached, USCIS creates a waiting list and grants deferred action or parole plus work authorisation eligibility to those on it
Who qualifies
- U-1: the principal victim of qualifying criminal activity
- U-2: spouse of a U-1
- U-3: child of a U-1
- U-4: parent of a U-1 who is under 21
- U-5: unmarried sibling under 18 of a U-1 who is under 21
- Qualifying crimes include domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, incest, felonious assault, kidnapping, abduction, false imprisonment, involuntary servitude, trafficking, blackmail, extortion, fraud in foreign labour contracting, female genital mutilation, hostage taking, manslaughter, murder, obstruction of justice, peonage, perjury, prostitution, sexual exploitation, slave trade, stalking, torture, unlawful criminal restraint, witness tampering, and similar or related activity including attempt, conspiracy and solicitation
Requirements
- You were the victim of qualifying criminal activity
- You suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result
- You have information about the criminal activity, or a parent, guardian or next friend holds it for you where you are under 16 or unable to provide it because of disability
- You were, are, or are likely to be helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution
- The crime occurred in the United States or violated US law
- You are admissible, or you file Form I-192 for a waiver
- Form I-918 with Form I-918 Supplement B signed by an authorised official of the certifying law enforcement agency
- Since March 30, 2026, U visa applicants abroad are subject to expanded online presence review
How to apply
- 1
Get Form I-918 Supplement B signed by an authorised official of the certifying law enforcement agency, confirming you were, are or are likely to be helpful
- 2
Prepare a personal statement and evidence of substantial physical or mental abuse
- 3
File Form I-918 with the Vermont Service Center with no fee, using a safe address if home post is not safe
- 4
File Form I-192 with it if you need a waiver of inadmissibility; it is free for U petitioners
- 5
File Form I-765 alongside so USCIS can act efficiently when your case is reached for bona fide determination; there is no fee for that initial EAD
- 6
File Form I-918 Supplement A for each qualifying family member, at the same time or later
- 7
Family members abroad complete Form DS-160 and consular process once the principal's petition is approved
- 8
After three years in U status, file Form I-485 to adjust status, with no fee
Fees and forms
| Form I-918, petition for U nonimmigrant status | $0 |
| Form I-918 Supplement A, for a qualifying family member | $0 |
| Form I-918 Supplement B, law enforcement certification | $0 |
| Form I-192, waiver of inadmissibility | $0 for U petitioners; U petitioners and U nonimmigrants are fee exempt on all forms through adjustment of status |
| Form I-765 for a bona fide determination or waiting list EAD, initial or renewal | $0 |
| Form I-929, petition for a qualifying family member of a U-1 | $0 |
| Form I-485 adjustment of status as a U nonimmigrant | $0 |
| Form I-131 travel document for someone with an approved Form I-918 | $0 |
| Form I-539 to extend U status | $0 for U nonimmigrants |
| MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee for a family member applying abroad | $185, the non-petition-based tier |
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- The bona fide determination process gives deferred action and employment authorisation to petitioners with a pending bona fide Form I-918 who merit a favourable exercise of discretion. USCIS charges no fee for the initial bona fide determination EAD, no fee for the waiting list EAD, and no fee to renew either. Petitioners who already filed a paid Form I-765 under (a)(20) or (c)(14) cannot get that fee refunded, but can have the case converted.
- The bona fide determination process is USCIS policy rather than rulemaking. It was created by policy alert PA-2021-13 on June 14, 2021 under INA 214(p)(6), and expanded on Aug. 11, 2023 to cover qualifying family members once the principal receives a bona fide determination, even where the principal has not filed Form I-765. It remains in force, with Policy Manual Volume 3 Part C current as of Aug. 31, 2026.
- Feb. 4, 2025: USCIS suspended the streamlined bona fide determination adjudication it had run since late 2023, under which data analysis selected certain Form I-918 petitions for faster handling. Bona fide determinations continue, but without that accelerator.
- Sept. 9, 2025: USCIS hit the FY 2025 statutory cap of 10,000, as it has every year since FY 2010. From Oct. 1, 2025 it resumed approving principal petitions starting with those filed on or before April 30, 2017, oldest first. That is roughly eight and a half years from filing to a U-1 grant. Whether the FY 2026 cap has been met is unverified; the USCIS alert still shows the FY 2025 notice.
- The backlog is the defining feature of this category. On USCIS quarterly data, as at March 31, 2026 there were 277,400 principal U-1 petitions pending and 183,800 family member petitions, 461,200 in total, against 10,000 principal visas a year. Principal pending rose from 189,381 at the end of FY 2022 to 277,400 by the middle of FY 2026. Bona fide determination outcomes are also tightening: 72,438 granted against 12,741 found ineligible in FY 2024, 57,909 against 19,274 in FY 2025, and 8,785 against 4,575 in the first half of FY 2026.
- Dec. 22, 2025: USCIS policy alert PA-2025-34 rewrote the guidance on 8 U.S.C. 1367 confidentiality at 1 USCIS-PM A.7 Section E, effective immediately and applying to requests pending or filed on or after that date. It permits DHS to consider information from a statutory prohibited source, meaning the abuser or trafficker, in defined circumstances, and reverses the prior position that 1367 protections end at naturalisation. USCIS acknowledges a petitioner may have a request denied on information provided solely by the abuser. The public U webpage still carries the older framing, so read the policy alert as the operative statement.
- June 5, 2026: DHS proposed a rule, 91 FR 34352, on discretionary employment authorisation, RIN 1615-AC98, with comments closed Aug. 4, 2026. It would let USCIS refuse a discretionary EAD, expressly including a bona fide determination EAD and a waiting list EAD for U petitioners, where the person has been arrested for, charged with without disposition, indicted for or convicted of any criminal act, admits a violent or dangerous crime, or shows gang or terrorist organisation membership, with no exceptions carved out. Proposed only as of September 2026.
- Nov. 3, 2025: USCIS policy alert PA-2025-25 confirmed, following Sanchez v. Mayorkas, that a grant of U status inside the United States is not an admission for the purposes of INA 245(a). A U nonimmigrant who was never inspected and admitted must adjust under INA 245(m) rather than 245(a).
- March 30, 2026: State expanded online presence review, announced March 25, 2026, to A-3, C-3 domestic workers, G-5, H-3, H-4 dependants of H-3, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T and U applicants. This sits on top of the June 18, 2025 requirement for F, M and J applicants and the Dec. 15, 2025 extension to H-1B and H-4. Everyone in scope is told to set all social media profiles to public or open. U is named in the March 2026 expansion, so U visa applicants abroad must set social media profiles to public.
- Oct. 1, 2025: the interview waiver rollback announced Sept. 18, 2025 took effect and superseded the July 25, 2025 guidance. Almost every nonimmigrant applicant now needs an in-person interview. The standing carve-outs are A-1, A-2, C-3 other than personal staff, G-1 through G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, TECRO E-1, diplomatic and official visas, and 12-month renewals of B-1/B-2, Mexican border crossing cards and H-2A. Waiver-eligible applicants must also apply in their country of nationality or residence, must never have been refused a visa unless overcome or waived, and must have no apparent ineligibility. The old under-14 and over-79 age exemptions were abolished. No further update has issued as of September 2026.
- July 15, 2026: State told nonimmigrant applicants to interview in their country of nationality or residence, or at the designated processing post if their country has no routine operations. Applying elsewhere is allowed but harder to qualify, the MRV fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and waits are much longer. A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO and diplomatic applicants are exempt.
- Jan. 1, 2026: Presidential Proclamation 10998, signed Dec. 16, 2025, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST and replaced Proclamation 10949 (signed June 4, 2025, effective June 9, 2025). It fully suspends visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, across every nonimmigrant and immigrant category. It only reaches people who were outside the United States and held no valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026; no earlier-issued visa was revoked under it. The full suspension covers all nonimmigrant categories, which bites on derivative family members applying abroad rather than on principals already in the United States.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published. U petitioners remain fee exempt on all forms through adjustment of status.
- Current USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26: Forms I-918, I-918 Supplement A, I-918 Supplement B and I-929 are all $0; Form I-485 is $0 for a U nonimmigrant adjusting under INA 245(m); Form I-131 is $0 for someone with an approved Form I-918; and Form I-539 is $0 for U nonimmigrants.
Where it goes wrong
- No certifying agency will sign Form I-918 Supplement B. Certification is discretionary, and without it the petition cannot proceed.
- Paying for a Form I-765 that would have been free under the bona fide determination or waiting list process.
- Not filing Form I-765 with the petition, which delays the bona fide determination EAD.
- Expecting family members to be processed before the principal's petition is approved. They cannot be.
- A U-4 parent or U-5 sibling becoming ineligible because the principal turns 21 during the long wait.
- Using a home address where post is not safe when USCIS expressly permits a safe address.
- Confusing the waiting list with a denial. Waiting list placement carries deferred action and work authorisation eligibility. Since the bona fide determination process took hold, USCIS generally does not run a waiting list adjudication for someone who already has a bona fide determination EAD and deferred action.
- Relying on the older confidentiality position. The Dec. 22, 2025 policy alert permits USCIS to consider information from the abuser in defined circumstances, which is a real change from the framing still shown on the public webpage.
- Assuming the four years of status will outlast the adjustment wait; extensions are limited and mostly tied to law enforcement need or a pending adjustment.
Not sure this is the one? Describe your situation and the finder will name the options worth exploring. None of this is legal advice; eligibility turns on facts a page cannot see.