Women's History Month is almost over, but our efforts to protect immigrant women and fight against gender-based violence will continue as fiercely as ever.

I recently spoke with Senia, the mother of four children, the daughter of a beloved mother, and an immigrant survivor of domestic violence. Thanks to the work of the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and a variety of rules and regulations set up to help survivors like her, Senia now has a U visa which puts her on a path to legal permanent residence and a work permit, and is able to care for her family.

“When I got my work permit, so many doors opened for me—economically, emotionally, so many opportunities,” Senia said. “I had been living in fear for such a long time while the laws were changing and changing and changing, but now I know I can stay here.”

Senia first came to the United States as a young woman from Honduras, in equal measures to escape the violent conditions in her home country and to help her family advance economically. She entered into a relationship with a man, and after escalating drinking and threats against both her and her children, she had to call the police on him one night when he hit her.

A few years later, she was picked up by a police officer for speeding, and was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. It was an ICE officer looking over her file who noted her earlier call to the police and asked if she knew that she qualified for a U visa.

A U visa, also known as the Visa for Victims of Criminal Activity, allows survivors and witnesses of crime who are willing to cooperate in a police investigation to obtain a path to permanent status in the United States. It’s an immensely helpful tool for many immigrants, and can be particularly helpful for women who have been victims of domestic violence. But many women, like Senia, don’t always realize that they’re eligible for it.

NIJC is also involved with the city of Chicago’s Gender Based Violence Implementation Task Force. NIJC’s Legal Project Manager, Trisha Teofilo Olave, is a member of the newly created task force to ensure that the particular needs and perspectives of immigrant women are brought to the table when thinking about how to solve gender-based violence. Part of what she’d like to implement is ensuring that both Chicago communities and the police officers working within them are able to inform people of their rights.

However, there’s one major challenge for U visa applicants: the processing backlog. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a U visa petition filed in 2020 might be pending for over 60 months (that’s a little over five years) because the government only allows 10,000 U visas to be issued in any given year. To help curb the problem, several years ago USCIS created a “wait list” to allow people to apply for work permits while their application was being adjudicated, but the wait to simply get on the waitlist rapidly grew to nearly 50 months. This was the case when Senia applied for her visa.

Fortunately, in the last year, USCIS implemented a “Bona Fide Determination” process. USCIS staff will do an initial rapid review to ensure the application has been filed correctly as well as a criminal background check. Once these two steps are completed, applicants are now eligible to apply for a work permit while they wait to see whether their U visa application is accepted. Once the backlog is cleared, this Bona Fide Determination process could be a huge step forward in allowing people to begin establishing their lives in the U.S. after being victims of a crime. Since the program was created in June, NIJC has received U visa bona fide determinations for 78 people, who now have access to work permits and the stability employment provides.

Because Senia applied for her U visa before the Bona Fide Determination process took effect, she had to wait a long time to be able to work so she could contribute to her mother’s medical bills back in Honduras. By the time her full U visa application was adjudicated, her mother had sadly passed away.

“My mother died about two years ago, and my case still wasn’t resolved, so I couldn't travel,” Senia said. “But what I still hang on to, and what I thank God and what I thank NIJC for, is that I was able to get my work permit. I could buy my mother her medicines and I helped her a lot when she was very sick. But still, I wonder all the time—what if I had known about the U visa before? What if it had processed faster?”

There is nothing that the U.S. government or NIJC can do to give Senia more time with her mother, but she is determined this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Senia constantly refers friends and acquaintances to NIJC, and likes to make sure people know about the U visa as an option for their immigration cases.

At NIJC, we're going to keep advocating for immigrant women like Senia to have access to the protection they need to thrive in the United States.

If you want to read more about Senia's story, read our latest post about Senia on NIJC's blog.

-Alejandra Oliva
National Immigrant Justice Center

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NATIONAL IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER
224 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 600  |  Chicago, Illinois  60604
immigrantjustice.org