Reform eligibility requirements for T and U visas for illegal immigrants
Reform eligibility requirements for T and U visas for illegal immigrants
Why this petition matters
Our goal: Reform eligibility requirements for T and U visas for illegal immigrants. Currently, to be eligible for either, one must be a victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking is identified based on three main categories: the process, the ways and means, and the goal. In order to prove themselves, adult trafficking victims must have evidence that indicates each of the three categories, or else they can be denied their visas. There are many requirements that must be met to be eligible for both T and U visas. For a T visa, a victim must provide evidence of "extreme hardship involving unusual and extreme harm," and must have been trafficked from outside of the US. For a U visa, a victim must provide evidence of severe physical or mental abuse from the traffickers, but is not required to have been trafficked from another country (ie. the victim could have been on a vacation to the United States and was trafficked from there). I feel as though this is a good system for determining the validity of a victim for a visa. However, as I stated before, I believe that the candidates for T and U visas should be given priority. Currently the United states only allocates no more than 10,000 U visas, and 5,000 T visas annually, which is just over 10% of all visas allocated each year. When a person qualifies for a T or U visa, and the United states have reached their annual limit, they are forced to wait until the next year to be admitted, with only a letter of intent to their name. During this time, the victims may struggle to make a living, as oftentimes victims are not granted many competitive jobs suitable to support them.