The T Visa for Trafficking Survivors

Who Qualifies

Protection and a path to permanent residence for survivors of human trafficking.

Survivors of sex or labor trafficking who are physically present in the U.S. and are willing to assist law enforcement, with limited exceptions for trauma or age.

What It Provides

Temporary immigration status, work authorization, and eligibility to apply for a green card after three years.

What We Handle

Preparing Form I-914, gathering supporting evidence and personal statements, and coordinating with victim-services organizations and law enforcement where helpful to your case.

5,000 principal T visas issued per year; derivatives for family members are not counted against that cap.

Family members — including spouses, children, and in some cases parents or siblings — may also qualify for derivative T status.

This is sensitive, confidential work. We take the time to explain every step before you decide anything.

The Four Requirements, Explained

T status has four elements, and each one is its own showing.

You are or were a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons. In law this covers both sex trafficking and labor trafficking obtained through force, fraud, or coercion — and coercion is broader than most people assume. Threats to report someone to immigration authorities, confiscated documents, debts that can never be paid off, and threats against family members abroad are recognized forms of it.

You are physically present in the United States on account of the trafficking. This includes people who are here because they were trafficked, who were allowed to enter to participate in an investigation, and who remain present because of the trafficking.

You have complied with any reasonable request from law enforcement for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of the trafficking. Exceptions apply for applicants under 18, and for those unable to cooperate because of physical or psychological trauma.

You would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if you were removed from the United States. This is a higher standard than ordinary hardship, and it is established through the specifics of your situation rather than by assertion.

Law Enforcement Involvement: What Is and Is Not Required

This is the most important practical distinction between the T visa and the U visa, and it is frequently misunderstood.

A declaration from a law enforcement agency, submitted on Form I-914 Supplement B, is strong primary evidence that a T applicant complied with reasonable requests for assistance. It is not, however, a requirement. A T application can be filed and approved without one.

Where no declaration is available — because the agency will not sign, because the investigation went nowhere, or because no report was ever made — the compliance element is established by other evidence: your own detailed declaration, records of any contact with law enforcement, statements from advocates or service providers, and documentation of the reporting you did attempt.

A U visa works differently. There, a signed certification from a certifying agency is a required part of the petition. If your situation involves a crime other than trafficking, that difference may determine which route is realistically available to you.

Building the Case

Trafficking cases are documented with whatever exists, and that varies enormously. Nobody expects a complete file.

Your own declaration carries much of the weight. It should describe how you came to be in the situation, what control was exercised over you, what you were required to do, what happened when you tried to leave, and what you fear now. Detail matters more than polish.

Other evidence can include messages, employment or pay records, photographs, medical records, records from a shelter or service organization, statements from people who knew your circumstances, and documentation of the debt, the recruitment, or the travel arrangements.

Documents in another language need certified English translations. Where records were taken from you or never existed, we explain the absence rather than leaving a gap.

This is careful work built around a person's account of the worst period of their life, and it is not something to rush. We move at a pace that lets the record be accurate.

Your Family Members

Certain family members may qualify for derivative T status, and who qualifies depends on the applicant's age.

An applicant under 21 may generally include a spouse, children, parents, and unmarried siblings under 18. An applicant 21 or older may generally include a spouse and children.

In some circumstances a family member facing a present danger of retaliation as a result of the applicant's escape or cooperation may also qualify. That is a fact-specific showing.

Derivative applications can be filed with the principal application or afterward. Family members abroad go through consular processing once approved. Because ages and relationships are measured at particular points in the process, tell us about everyone in your family early rather than as an afterthought.

What Happens After Approval

An approved principal receives T-1 nonimmigrant status, generally valid for four years, with employment authorization. Derivatives receive their own status and can obtain work authorization as well.

Because principal T-1 grants are subject to an annual numerical limit, applicants may be placed on a waiting list when the limit is reached in a fiscal year, and USCIS may grant deferred action or parole in the interim.

T status also opens a path to permanent residence. A T nonimmigrant may generally apply to adjust status after three years of continuous physical presence in the United States since admission in T status, or after the investigation or prosecution of the trafficking is complete, whichever comes first. That application has its own requirements, including continued compliance with reasonable law enforcement requests.

Absences from the United States during that period can interrupt the continuous presence requirement, so travel is worth discussing before it happens rather than after.

Who This Guide Is Not For

If you were the victim of a qualifying crime other than trafficking — domestic violence, sexual assault, felonious assault, and others — and you have cooperated with law enforcement, the U visa is likely the relevant category. See that guide, and note that a U petition requires a signed law enforcement certification while a T application does not.

If the harm came from a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or adult child, a VAWA self-petition may be available, filed confidentially without that person's involvement. See the VAWA guide.

If your fear is of persecution in your home country on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, asylum may be the right framework instead — see the affirmative asylum guide.

These categories are not mutually exclusive. More than one may apply to the same set of facts, and choosing among them is part of what a consultation is for.