USCIS has published the numbers of U Visas approved during Fiscal Year
2012 and the data show that the agency’s expansion efforts of the visa
program have worked. FY12 marks the third year in a row that the federal
agency has reached the statutory maximum of 10,000 petitions for U
nonimmigrant status since the agency began issuing the visa in 2008.
Each year, USCIS makes available 10,000 U nonimmigrant visas for victims
of crime who have suffered from substantial mental or physical abuse
and agree to help law enforcement officials investigate or prosecute
those related crimes. The visa program was created by the U.S. Congress
to strengthen the ability of law enforcement to investigate and
prosecute cases related to domestic violence, sexual assault, human
trafficking and other such crimes, while protecting the victims of those
crimes.
USCIS will continue to accept new petitions for the U visa; visas will begin being issued again on October 1, 2012.
