The T nonimmigrant visa provides immigration protection to survivors of a specific and severe form of crime: human trafficking. While the U visa covers a broad range of qualifying crimes including domestic violence, assault, and sexual assault, the T visa is narrowly focused on trafficking in persons as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and its eligibility criteria, certification requirements, and benefits structure differ from the U visa in specific ways that matter to the attorneys and advocates who help trafficking survivors navigate the immigration system. Understanding the T visa as its own distinct remedy, separate from the U visa despite their surface similarities as humanitarian immigration protections for crime victims, gives survivors and their counsel the precise legal framework that T visa applications require.
What Constitutes Human Trafficking for T Visa Purposes
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines trafficking in persons in two forms. Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, when the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or when the person induced to perform the commercial sex act has not attained 18 years of age. Labor trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting the person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. A person under 18 induced to perform commercial sex acts is a trafficking victim regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion was used, which is a critical distinction from adult victims whose trafficking must involve one of those three elements.
T Visa Eligibility and the Physical Presence Requirement
To be eligible for T nonimmigrant status under INA Section 101(a)(15)(T), a trafficking survivor must be or have been a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, must be physically present in the United States on account of such trafficking, must have complied with any reasonable request for assistance from law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of acts of trafficking or must establish that they are unable to cooperate due to physical or psychological trauma, and must demonstrate that they would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm upon removal. The physical presence requirement means the applicant must be in the United States when they apply, which is one of the T visa’s limiting factors compared to some other humanitarian visa categories.
The Law Enforcement Certification and the Trauma Exception
Like the U visa, the T visa application for adults and children over 18 requires a law enforcement certification on Form I-914B confirming the applicant’s status as a trafficking victim and their cooperation or willingness to cooperate with law enforcement. The T visa’s certification process differs from the U visa’s in one important way: the T visa recognizes that trafficking survivors may be psychologically unable to cooperate with law enforcement due to the severe trauma the trafficking experience produces, and an adult applicant who cannot cooperate because of psychological trauma can qualify for the T visa without the law enforcement certification under the trauma exception. This exception acknowledges the specific nature of trafficking as a crime that is designed to create dependency and fear that can prevent victims from engaging with law enforcement even when they genuinely want to.
T Visa Benefits: Derivative Visas for a Broader Family
The T visa provides a broader family derivative structure than the U visa in an important respect. T-3 status is available for spouses of T-1 principal applicants. T-4 status is available for parents of T-1 principals who are under 21. T-5 status is available for unmarried siblings under 18 of T-1 principals who are under 21. T-6 status is available for adult or minor children of T-2 derivative recipients. This extended family derivative structure reflects Congress’s recognition that traffickers often use threats against a victim’s family members as a control mechanism, and that protecting the family is part of protecting the victim. T visa holders receive four years of authorized stay and work authorization, and may apply for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence after three years of continuous physical presence in T status and compliance with any reasonable request for law enforcement assistance. The USCIS T visa information describes the complete eligibility and application requirements. Working with experienced attorneys who provide T Visa legal services gives trafficking survivors the trauma-informed legal guidance and expert application preparation their cases require.
