There’s a specific visa for victims of crime. It’s called a U Visa.
To be eligible for the U Visa, it has to be a rather serious crime; a felonious assault, an armed robbery. Anything in that nature, you should be eligible for a U Visa.
Another requirement is that you had to help in the prosecution of that crime. If you didn’t, then you’re not going to be able to obtain a U Visa.
Even if that crime occurred ten or twelve years ago and you aided the police or the district attorney’s office in processing that crime, you’ll still be eligible.
The other requirement is you will not be able to proceed with the U Visa unless the district attorney’s office or the police department signs a 918 supplemental form saying yes, you were actually very instrumental in the prosecution of the crime.
An important aspect of obtaining a visa is whether or not the applicant has ever violated three or ten year bars.
If you have been in the United States in an undocumented status for six months or more and you leave the country, you are barred from returning to the United States for three years.
If you have been in the United States in an undocumented status for one year or more and you leave the country, you are barred from returning to the United States for ten years.
In some instances, there may be a waiver allowing you to return.
If it is a family petition and you filed the appropriate family petition form and the immediate relative form the process takes some months.
Once that’s approved, it is then forwarded to the National Visa Center. At the Center, the petitioner and the beneficiary have to complete documentation.
One important aspect is that the petitioner, if applying for a family member, has to show that that family member would not become a public charge.
That petitioner has to make a specified amount which varies depending on how many family members live with them.
For example for a single person applying for a wife who’s living abroad, that person has to make $19,612 per year to be eligible. That’s 125% over the federal poverty guidelines.
The time frame for consular processing depends on the complexity of the case; whether there are unusual issues or the relationship status is clear and all papers are in order.
Generally, it takes between nine and twelve months.
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