A T visa is a type of visa

Visa (document)

A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...

 allowing certain victims of human trafficking

Human trafficking

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...

 and immediate family members to remain and work temporarily in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 if they agree to assist law enforcement

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 in testifying

Testimony

In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...

 against the perpetrators.

Background

The United States government estimates that up to 50,000 people are trafficked illegally into the United States against their will, mostly women and children who are brought as sex slaves. As a response, it enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA), which, among other things, allows such people to apply for 3-year temporary visas that lead to permanent resident status. In 2006, Congress modified 8 CFR 214.11(p) to now have the T-visa to be for 4 years. Although 5,000 are available per year, only 2,000 had been issued as of January, 2009.

Eligibility

• T-1 visas are available to people who:
  • came to the United States illegally to engage in commercial sex work, involuntary servitude
    Involuntary servitude
    Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...
    
    , peonage, debt bondage
    Debt bondage
    Debt bondage is when a person pledges him or herself against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined...
    
    , or slavery
    Slavery
    Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
    
    
  • committed commercial sex acts or agreed to come to the United States as a result of force, fraud, or coercion
    Coercion
    Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
    
    
  • would suffer extreme hardship if deported
    Deportation
    Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
    
    
  • report their trafficking crime to federal authorities and, if at least 15 years old, help with investigations and prosecutions

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

External links

• VTVPA - text of statute
• DOJ issues regulations for T visas, available to victims of trafficking - National Immigration Law Center article