JCS Immigration and Visa, a Los Angeles Immigration Attorney’s office that has successfully helped many immigrant victims of crime apply for U visa and adjustment of status to green card holder has just learned that USCIS has reached the annual 10,000 petition cap limit.
USCIS today announced that they have approved the statutory maximum 10,000 petitions for U-1 Nonimmigrant Status for fiscal year 2014. This marks the fifth consecutive year that USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2008.
The U.S. Congress created the U Visa program to strengthen the law enforcement community’s ability to investigate crimes with the assistance of undocumented immigrants in certain crimes including domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and other crimes. Since 2008, more than 89,600 victims and their family members have received U visas.
Each year, 10,000 U Visas are available for victims of certain qualifying crimes 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 from the qualifying agency of law enforcement in order to be successful.
USCIS will resume issuing U visas on October 1, 2014, the first day of fiscal year 2015, when visa numbers become available again.
