T nonimmigrant status, commonly referred to as a T visa, is a nonimmigrant status allowing certain victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

(which includes both labor trafficking and

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

) and immediate family members to remain and work temporarily in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, typically if they report the crime to

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, and agree to help them in the investigation and/or prosecution of the crime(s) committed against them. It also allows close family members of the victims to come to the United States legally. Despite being colloquially referred to as a visa, T status is not technically a visa, because it is issued to individuals who are already inside the United States.

Background

The United States government estimated in 2002 that each year up to 50,000 people are trafficked illegally into the United States, mostly women and children, and are trapped in slavery-like situations. As a response, it enacted the

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) is a federal statute passed into law in 2000 by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Clinton. The law was later reauthorized by presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump. In ad ...

(TVPA), which, among other things, allows such people to apply for three-year temporary visas that lead to

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...

status. In 2006, Congress modified 8 CFR 214.11(p) to now have the T-visa to be for four years. Although 5,000 are available per year, only 2,000 had been issued as of January, 2009. In 2017, there were 8524 cases of human trafficking being reported to National Human Trafficking Hotline. And up to 2018, the allowed stay period for people who are granted a T visa is still four years.

Eligibility

*T-1 visas are available to people who fall under these criteria: **Are present in the United States on account of

involuntary servitude Involuntary servitude or involuntary slavery, more commonly known as just slavery, is a legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion, to which it may constitute ...

peonage Peon ( English , from the Spanish '' peón'' ) usually refers to a person subject to peonage: any form of wage labor, financial exploitation, coercive economic practice, or policy in which the victim or a laborer (peon) has little control ove ...

debt bondage Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, or whe ...

, and/or

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

**Committed commercial sex acts as a result of force, fraud, or

coercion Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...

, (if under 18 when committing commercial sex acts, no force, fraud, or coercion is necessary because minors cannot consent to commercial sex acts) **Would suffer extreme hardship if

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

**Report their trafficking crime to federal authorities and, if at least 18 years old at the time of trafficking, help with all reasonable requests from law enforcement, i.e. investigations and prosecutions. With the 2006 modification, the required compliance with law enforcement was deemed not fit if the victim would undergo any severe trauma. This is better known as the "trauma exception". **must include an endorsement from a law enforcement agency included in the T-1 visa application (if the agency chooses to not include an endorsement, the victim must provide sufficient secondary evidence) *In order to be eligible for a T visa the applicant must demonstrate "unusual or severe harm" if they were to be removed from the United States. This includes: **Age and personal circumstances of the T visa applicant. **Serious physical or mental illness of the T Visa applicant of which they will be unable to receive treatment in their home country. **Likelihood of re-victimization. **Reasonable expectation of punishment upon applicants return to home country. **Likelihood of harm by traffickers or related individuals upon return. Related visas include: *T-2 visas - spouses of T-1 applicants *T-3 visas - children of T-1 applicants *T-4 visas - parents of T-1 applicants who are children *T-5 visas - under-18 unmarried siblings of T-1 applicants

Statistics

Number of visas issued by year

The first T visas were issued in Fiscal Year 2003. In the table below, the years are Fiscal Years, so for instance the year 2009 refers to the period from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009. Note that this only counts T visas issued at embassies and consulates outside the United States, and does not include people who changed nonimmigrant status to T status within the United States. The T-1 status is the one most likely to be achieved through change of status within the United States, and therefore T-1 visas are not usually issued.

References

External links

TVPA
- text of statute

- National Immigration Law Center article

- Legal manual from the New York Anti-Trafficking Network {{United States visas United States visas by type Human trafficking in the United States