Humanitarian Visas: Solutions for Difficult Immigration Cases

Humanitarian Visas can take an immigrant to the Permanent Residence without exiting the US despite having entered the country unlawfully, have certain types of entries and exits, or having entered the country unlawfully after a deportation order.

How do humanitarian visas work?

Maybe you think, after 10, 20, or even 30 years of struggling to regularize your migratory status, that there is no possibility of becoming legal.

How do humanitarian visas work and why can they be the awaited hope to regularize migratory status?

A person might want to find out if he/she meets the requirements for the humanitarian visas. It’s important to note that not everyone can regularize their migratory status through humanitarian visas. Each case is different, reason why is important to talk with an immigration attorney.

There are situations in which humanitarian visas can be the awaited hope.

On occasions, immigrants count with certain types of entries and exits in their files. This might be due to an unlawful entry after a deportation order. When this scenario comes up, a person can fall under the permanent bar.

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What is the permanent bar?

The permanent bar can apply in different ways. If there is doubt about being under the permanent bar, it’s recommended to talk with an immigration attorney.

This bar can apply for those who have a year of unlawful presence after April 1st of 1997 (either continuous or by periods), exit the US for any reason, either due to deportation or as voluntary exit for personal reason; and gets back (or tries to get back) to the US unlawfully. There, the permanent bar applies.

it can also apply if having a deportation order, leaving the US either due to being expelled or in a voluntary way for personal reasons, and coming back (or trying to come back) to the US unlawfully after April 1st of 1997.

The permanent bar is something that happens frequently. Some immigrants, due to the lack of knowledge, can fall under the permanent bar.

The solution might be through a Legal Resident spouse or over-21 US citizen sons/daughters. An immigrant who has any of these may wonder why has it been so hard for him/her to obtain legal status through them.

It might not be that easy. A possible reason is that a big part of lawyers focus on family petitions or I-130 petitions. Through this family petition, the US must be exited with a bar of 10 years. This implies that the immigrant waits these 10 years out of the US.

In a situation in which one has entries and exits, was deported in the past, and returned unlawfully, ways to regularize migratory status even under permanent punishment must be looked for.

Another common scenario is that the immigrant gets a bar due to declaring, by word or using third-party documents, being a US citizen when is not.

In case this happened after September 30th of 1996, either due to having used any US citizen document as the passport or birth certificate, or due to declaring only by word, the immigrant can end up with a bar for life.

Even if US citizen documents were not used to cross to the US, but were only declared by word being a US citizen, will end up with a bar for life.

There can also be a bar if US citizen documents were used to obtain federal or state benefits. For instance, to obtain a driver’s license. If this happened after September 30th of 1996, the action implies a permanent bar.

If US citizen documents were used to obtain a Federal job too, falls under the permanent bar.

There are defenses for this bar imposed due to declaring by word being a US citizen when not being such. It’s hard to succeed in these cases.

There are ways. Humanitarian visas can be a solution for those under this bar.

Another group of people who get to have difficulties due to living without documents that support lawful presence is that of US citizen sons/daughters’ parents who arrived in the US pursuing the American dream and crossed the border unlawfully.

Over-21 US citizen sons/daughters’ parents might not qualify for the I-601A pardon process. This is the pardon implying returning to the US consulate of the country of origin of the immigrant in order to submit the request. Something that prevents them from qualifying to get a pardon is the lack of a US citizen or Legal Resident spouse or parent.

It is, to a certain degree, common that over-21 US citizen sons/daughters’ parents don’t have a parent or spouse with documents. It might be that their parents still live in their home country and don’t have US documents, just as it can be that they have entered the country with their spouse pursuing the American dream, and the spouse is also an immigrant. It can also be that is a parent who is single.

For US citizen parents, options get to be limited if entered the country unlawfully. One option is to have a son/daughter who is or was in the US Army. Another option is to be under 245-I law protection. 245-I is about those who have a family petition filed before September 30th of 2001.

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What about humanitarian visas?

There are three humanitarian visas: the U Visa, the T visa, and the VAWA Visa. The reason why humanitarian visas get to be opted by, considering that not everyone can regularize migratory status through these visas, is that they can let obtaining documents even if entered the country unlawfully, if having certain types of entries and exits, or if entered the country unlawfully after a deportation order.

If meeting the requirements of any of these humanitarian visas, there could be a way to regularize migratory status without exiting the US.

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How do these humanitarian visas work?

U Visa

The U Visa is not the fastest process but is a way that can help people who, unfortunately, were victims of a crime within the US and helped the police with information about this crime.

It’s important to note that with the U Visa, not all crimes will open a route to permanent residence. If one was victim of a crime within the US, it’s important to help the police with the investigation. On occasions, fear inhibits people from helping the police; however, in order to apply for the U Visa, having helped the police is a requirement.

There are cases that don’t qualify even having been a victim of a crime such as domestic violence. This is a frequent scenario of cases in which a person can qualify for the U Visa, however, if he/she doesn’t help the police with information about the crime, there is no way to apply.

VAWA Visa

The VAWA Visa is for those who were victims of family abuse or family mistreatment from a US Citizen or Legal Resident spouse. It also applies in cases of ex-spouses as long as there hasn’t been more than two years since the divorce date.

The person the procedure is based on must be a US Citizen or Legal Resident. It can also apply even if being separated but still under marriage.

The mistreatment and abuse might push him/her to the limit and, make him/her decide not to continue bearing these actions.

The VAWA visa can also apply to those who have an over-21 US citizen from whom family abuse/mistreatment was suffered. This visa is a completely confidential process.

It can be thought that starting a process via VAWA visa will prejudice the person the process is based on, whether it’s a spouse or son. If that’s the case, it’s important to consider that the VAWA visa is a confidential process.

If submitting an application basing the process on a spouse, it’s not necessary for a divorce, separation or sue to exist. The law punishes with a $5,000 USD penalty fee any immigration officer who provides information about these types of cases.

To talk about family abuse or mistreatment can make think about hits and extreme domestic violence. Even though that is a type of mistreatment under US law, verbal mistreatment, psychological mistreatment, and emotional mistreatment are too.

US law is wide and can include things that people from other countries might not consider as mistreatment. For instance, non-physical mistreatment. Looking at the whole behavior of the aggressor in the relationship, the conclusion of mistreatment was suffered or not can be made. This opens a way to Permanent Residence without leaving the US.

T Visa

There are different ways to be eligible for the T Visa. A frequent scenario is through mistreatment by coyotes. When immigrants cross the US border helped by coyotes, tend to make deals with them like exchanging money for being taken to the US.

On occasions, it might not work as initially planned. A fee can be paid, and, after arriving in the US, the coyote raises the fee and keeps immigrants captive until they pay their new debt. During the time in which are kept captive, immigrants can be taken to an apartment, trailer, or warehouse and forced to work, either by cleaning, cooking, or at a business.

On occasions, when this happens, there is extreme mistreatment: rapes, hits, and threats. Immigrants can get to be basically kidnapped in the apartment, trailer, or warehouse, working for the coyotes under these harms. Having passed through these situations can open a way to Permanent Residence through the T Visa.

Laboral mistreatment as well. When not having documents that support lawful presence in the US, some employers will look for a way to take advantage of this migratory situation and force immigrants to work.

Scenarios in which, for instance, an employer compromises to pay ten US dollars for working 40 hours a week when actually 90 hours a week are being worked with the same payment; and that every time an immigrant complains, either due to the inconvenient payment scheme or due to being under too much stress, threats and hits; gets threats from his employer in terms of being accused before immigration or pressing false charges against him/her before the police being, are examples of situations that can be a way to Permanent Residence through the T Visa.

Another circumstance that can apply for the T Visa is being in a couple-relationship in which one forces the other to work in some way. For instance, that the spouse takes his/her couple to an apartment or hotel and demands him/her work 12 hours a day for a payment that he/she will not directly receive, but it will be delivered to his/her spouse, who can even be hitting her/him and even raping her.

If the spouse has his/her own business, works by himself/herself, and falls in comments or actions such as “Wake up, we’re going to work”, the undocumented couple spends the day cleaning, cooking, and helping his/her spouse with his/her tasks but never receives a salary or some kind of remuneration, and lives in hits, rapes, or another type of extreme domestic violence context; that can also provide the way to regularize migratory status through the T Visa.

Forced work at home also applies. When an immigrant feels he/she is nearly a slave due to being cleaning and cooking, and has no time to rest even if feeling sick due to the fact that his/her spouse threatens or intimidates through harming the immigrant; this type of forced work in the context of domestic violence can also provide a way to regularize migratory status through the T Visa.

These cases can be complicated, that’s why is recommended to consult with an immigration attorney.

There are employers who are constantly looking for ways to take advantage of the migratory situation of undocumented immigrants.

If it is felt that an employer is mistreating, is not paying hours correctly, or is not paying the extra hours; it’s recommended to calculate how much is being perceived and how many hours are being worked.

If the salary is below what was initially agreed, there is mistreatment, humiliation, insults, threats before the Immigration Department, raping, or those kinds of facts, is recommended to get in touch with an attorney to consult about the T Visa.