The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services released updated U visa application and certification forms. The new forms include the criminal activities added by the Violence Against Women Act 2013 – stalking and fraud in foreign labor contracting. The certification form will also be more certifier friendly for a broader range of U visa certifiers including judges, magistrates, commissioners, police, sheriffs, prosecutors, and state and federal government agencies (e.g., EEOC, Labor, Adult and Child protective services).

Note: In a Law Enforcement Roundtable convened by NIWAP yesterday (March 23, 2017) USCIS announced that there will be a 60 Grace period after which the old U visa certification form will no longer be accepted.

U visa cases filed after May 17, 2017 will be required to used the new U visa certification form.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published in February 2017 a new tool that provides an overview for law enforcement and other government agencies (including judges) authorized by the U Visa statutes, regulations and policies to sign U visa certifications. The overview describes the role of a certifier, what constitutes U Visa criminal activity, which government agencies are eligible to certify, who can sign a certification, when a certification may be signed, tips for completing the certification, and includes phone numbers, websites and resources available to assist certifiers from DHS and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

You can find the new U visa certification forms and more information by going to this webpage on our web library.

This page contains the following information:

• New application forms for U and T Visas
• New U Visa Certification Form
• New T Visa Declaration Form
• Form Instructions
• Links to USCIS websites on the U Visa, T Visa and VAWA Self-petitions
• The DHS Resource Guild on U and T Visa Certification
• U Visa certification Toolkits for Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Judges, and Adult Protective Services
• The New DHS Infographic Screening Tool on Crime Victim Immigration Protections
• And more

Credits: The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project