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EspañolRequirement 1: You are or have been the victim of a "severe form of trafficking"
In the question called What must I prove to be eligible for a T visa? we list four requirements that you have to meet. In this section, we explain the first requirement in detail.
Human traffickers recruit, transport, hold, or kidnap their victims and force or trick them into providing sex or labor, known as sex trafficking and labor trafficking. These are the two “severe forms” of trafficking recognized by the government.
Sex trafficking involves the exchange of a sex act for anything of value. If the person providing the sex act is under 18 years old, this will be a severe form of human trafficking by itself. If the person is 18 or older, it becomes a severe form of trafficking only when the trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion. Examples of severe forms of sex trafficking include forcing people to participate in creating pornography, selling or buying women as mail-order brides, or forcing a person to be a prostitute by providing sex in exchange for money or other valuable things. This can take place in many locations, including brothels, massage parlors, workplaces, and family homes; for instance, a trafficker may force his spouse to prostitute herself to his friends.
A sexual assault or any form of forced sex by itself is a serious crime, but it is not necessarily sex trafficking. It only amounts to sex trafficking if the assault or event also includes a promise, offer, or exchange of something of value. If you are undocumented and are sexually assaulted but there is no promise, offer, or exchange of something of value, you may still be eligible for a different visa, related to the T visa, called a U visa.
Labor trafficking means more than working in bad or even unlawful conditions. It involves unpaid work that amounts to slavery, work that is forced upon the person by physical means or threats (involuntary servitude), or debt bondage, which is when you are forced to work to “repay” a debt to the trafficker. However, you are never actually able to repay the debt because the trafficker says you “owe too much” or keeps adding on new “expenses.” For instance, traffickers typically “charge” victims for their transportation to the United States and for their food and lodging once they are here. The traffickers make sure they charge so much that their victims will never be able to repay them. As long as you owe this debt, the trafficker will not let you go, which often means there is no end in sight to being forced to do work you do not want to do.
It also must be the case that there is someone keeping you in these conditions and you cannot leave. If you believe that if you left, it would be hard to find a different job, that may not count. Your employer must be doing something to hold this difficulty against you or make you otherwise unable to leave the job.2
Labor trafficking can be seen in many kinds of “workplaces.” For instance, domestic workers may be victims of trafficking if they are forced to work in someone’s home, as a maid, nanny, etc., when they do not want to. Labor trafficking may take place in many industries, including agriculture, processing plants, factories, janitorial and food services, nail salons, and more. Traffickers may even force trafficking victims to beg on the streets.1
Labor and sex trafficking often involve what is called “debt bondage,” which is when you are forced to work to “repay” a debt to the trafficker. However, you are never actually able to repay the debt because the trafficker says you “owe too much” or keeps adding on new “expenses.”2 For instance, traffickers typically “charge” victims for their transportation to the United States and for their food and lodging once they are here. The traffickers make sure they charge so much that their victims will never be able to repay them. As long as you owe this debt, the trafficker will not let you go, which often means there is no end in sight to being forced to do work you do not want to do.
To understand how the government decides if you are, in fact, a victim of a severe form of human trafficking, go to How does USCIS determine if I am a victim of a “severe form of human trafficking?”
1 National Human Trafficking Resource Center Fact Sheet
2 22 U.S.C. § 7102(7), (8)
Requirement 2: You have cooperated with or are excused from cooperating with reasonable requests from legal authorities.
In the question called What must I prove to be eligible for a T visa?, we list all of the requirements that you have to meet to be eligible to apply for a T visa. In this section, we explain the second requirement in detail.
This requirement can be summarized by saying you must do two things. First, you must contact a law enforcement agency about the trafficking, such as:
- the police;
- a labor law agency, such as federal or state department of labor, or the EEOC; or
- a child or vulnerable adult protective services agency.
Second, if that agency asks you to do any reasonable requests, you must follow those requests until the case is done.
It is important to know that you do not need to prove this requirement if:
- you were under 18 when any of the trafficking occurred. Minors do not have to contact or cooperate with authorities – although you can if you want to;1 or
- you have suffered psychological or physical trauma, and are unable to cooperate with law enforcement because of that trauma. In this case, you may qualify for the “trauma exception” to this requirement.2
Everyone else must show that they at least tried to be helpful with any “reasonable requests” from law enforcement.3
Whether a request is “reasonable” or not depends on the particular situation, considering things like:
- general law enforcement practices – in other words, what law enforcement usually does when catching and prosecuting criminals;
- your experiences – in other words, what the trafficker exposed you to, did to you, or made you do; and
- your circumstances regarding fear, physical and mental trauma, cultural or moral objections to the request, and your age and maturity.4
For example, if law enforcement asks you to do something that puts your life in jeopardy, this could be seen as an unreasonable request. However, it is ultimately up to USCIS to decide if what law enforcement asked you to do is reasonable or not.
If you are working with law enforcement, the easiest way to prove you fulfill this requirement is with the law enforcement declaration. If, however, law enforcement has asked you to do something unreasonable, you can still prove you meet this requirement in other ways, if you show you were willing to provide other help.
Note: USCIS does not require your reporting or cooperation to lead to any particular result. For example, you are equally eligible for a T visa if:
- you only offer to tell your story to police, and they never interview you;
- you do many interviews, testify in court, and get to see the person who trafficked you sentenced for their crime; or
- the trafficker manages to escape arrest or is not found guilty at court.
This requirement focuses only on things in your control: contacting a law enforcement agency and never refusing to assist them in any reasonable requests they make.
To better understand and prepare for this cooperation requirement, and to avoid USCIS denying your case in general, it is safer for you and your family to work with an attorney with experience in T visa cases. Use our Finding a Lawyer page to find a lawyer in your state. You can also ask one of the national immigration organization on our National Organizations - Immigration page to help find you a lawyer.
1 8 USC § 1101(a)(15)(T)(i)(III)(cc); 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(e)(2); 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(f)
2 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(T)(i)(III)(bb); 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(e)(1); 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(f)
3 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(T)(i); 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(c)
4 8 C.F.R. § 214.208(c)
Requirement 3: You are in the United States, a U.S. territory, American Samoa, or a port of entry of any of these because of human trafficking.
In the question called What must I prove to be eligible for a T visa?, we list all of the requirements that you have to meet to be eligible to apply for a T visa. In this section, we explain the third requirement in detail.
You must prove that you are in the U.S. because of labor or sex trafficking that involved force, coercion, or fraud. You do not necessarily need to have been trafficked into the country, although that is one scenario that would qualify. If you came to the U.S. on your own and then sometime later you were forced or tricked into labor or prostitution, you may still meet this eligibility requirement.1
As long as you are here because you were trafficked into or within the U.S., its territories, or American Samoa, you may be able to get T visa status even if you are no longer being forced to work or provide sex acts. This is especially true if you recently escaped or were released from the trafficking situation. If you escaped the trafficking a long time ago, you must show you are still in the United States because of the severe trafficking you experienced. For example, if you are frightened to leave the U.S. because the traffickers are threatening to hurt you in your homeland, you may be able to get T visa status even though you are no longer under their physical control. Similarly, if you experienced serious trauma or other harm because of the trafficking situation and have not been able to access victim services to recover yet, but are planning to start, you may also be able to get a T visa as someone still in the US because of the effects of trafficking.
A key to meeting this requirement is that, in general, you must avoid leaving the United States for any reason after exiting the trafficking. Even if the reason you leave the country is that you are deported against your will, you will be unable to meet the requirement to be “currently present because of trafficking.” This is why it is extremely important to try to defend yourself against deportation if you are placed in removal proceedings, or to at least ask the judge to allow extra time for your T visa application to be decided. Otherwise, if you physically leave the U.S., the only way your T visa can still be approved is if you are either:
- further victimized by your trafficker(s) in a way that requires you to reenter the U.S.;
- brought back to the U.S. by law enforcement to participate in a case against your trafficker(s); or
- the victim of a new incident of trafficking.2
The requirement to be in the U.S. because of trafficking can be hard to prove without a lawyer’s help, unless you recently escaped the trafficking or were freed from it by law enforcement. In general, to avoid USCIS denying your case and possibly putting you or your family members into immigration court proceedings, it is safer for you and your family to work with an attorney with experience in T visa cases. See our Finding a Lawyer page for free and paid legal services.
1 8 C.F.R. § 214.207
2 8 C.F.R. § 214.11(g)(2)
Requirement 4: You would suffer "extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm" if removed or forced to leave.
In the question called What must I prove to be eligible for a T visa?, we list all of the requirements that you have to meet to be eligible to apply for a T visa. In this section, we explain the fourth requirement in detail.
USCIS has a particular set of things they look at to decide whether applicants would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if sent back to their home country.1 Most trafficking victims would likely meet these factors since they are based on typical trafficking victims’ experience.
To show extreme hardship, it is OK to bring up economic harm, such as not having enough money to survive, if you able to document this. However, you should focus on more than just proving economic harm. Generally, you will be more successful if you can show that you will suffer serious physical or psychological harm if you get sent back. Try to focus on how you can show the facts below:
- the details (“nature and extent”) of the physical and psychological harm you experienced from the trafficking;
- the support and medical care you need for these physical or psychological consequences of trafficking that are available in the U.S. but not in your home country;
- your ongoing need for help from the U.S. civil and criminal court systems, such as your need to:
- sue to get money to cover your medical expenses and compensate you for your suffering (“restitution”);
- get protection from the trafficker(s); or
- help with the prosecution of the trafficker(s);
- laws, social practices, and customs in your home country that will likely harm you because you were a victim of trafficking; for example, the traffickers are powerful in your home country; you are a female victim of sex trafficking, and your country or community punishes women who have sex outside of marriage; or you will be excluded, hated, or harmed because you helped hold the traffickers accountable by cooperating with law enforcement;
- the likelihood that you will be re-trafficked if you go back and the inability or unwillingness of your home country to protect you from that;
- the likelihood that the traffickers or those working with them will harm you if you go back, regardless of whether the home country’s government will try to protect you;
- your safety will be threatened by civil unrest or armed conflict; and
- how your age, maturity, or particular circumstances make it dangerous for you to go back. 1
As you can see, the list above mostly focuses on two things:
- What do you need in the U.S. to cope with being a victim of trafficking that you can’t get in your home country?
- What will happen if you go back to your home country?
Note: If you have children or other family in the U.S., it may also be useful to explain why they need ongoing support and care here that they cannot get in your home country or why they would suffer other hardship if you could not get a T visa. However, remember you must always show that you would suffer hardship, too, so you will need to explain why your family members’ suffering will also cause you hardship.2
1 8 C.F.R. § 214.209(b)
2 8 CFR 214.209(c)(2)
