This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Immigration and Human Trafficking/ The T-Visa

In October, 2000, Congress created the “T” nonimmigrant visa by passing the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) in order to strengthen the ability of our law enforcement to investigate and prosecute human trafficking and to offer protection to victims of human trafficking.

 

Human trafficking, or Trafficking in Persons, is a type of modern day slavery.  Human Traffickers may lure foreign nationals to the US by promising employment and a better life in the US.  The T-Visa is for foreign nationals who have been victims of human trafficking by allowing them to remain in the US to assist in investigations and prosecution of the perpetrators.  The victim must be willing to comply with requests made by local law enforcement to assist in prosecution, unless the victim is under the age of 18 years or unable to cooperate due to trauma.

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

The T-Visa also can include spouses, children, parents and unmarried siblings, depending on the age of the victim. 

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Human Trafficking can usually be broken down into two types of categories:  Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking.  The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified on December 6, 1865, outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.  This includes holding any person in service through force or threats of force.  The VTVPA supplements existing federal law and establishes new tools and resources to combat Trafficking in Persons.

 

Trafficking in Persons may include recruitment, harboring, transporting, providing a person or obtaining a person for the purpose of commercial sex acts or for labor or services, when induced by force, fraud, coercion or the threat of force, peonage, debt bondage or slavery, or when the victim is under the age of 18 years. 

 

There is no filing fee to file the T-Visa application, and Employment Authorization is included in the issuance of the T-Visa.  There are only a limited number of T-Visas available each year, in the amount of 5,000 per year.  Only the primary victim is counted against the 5,000 allotment.  Derivative beneficiary family members do not count against the visa cap.  Once the cap is reached, then applicants are placed on a Waiting List so that they may obtain priority in the following year.

 

The T-Visa is valid for a period of four years, and a T-Visa holder is eligible to apply for permanent resident status (a green card) after the initial three year period.

 

Victims of Human Trafficking may also be eligible for federally funded benefits and public services regardless of their status.  Once a victim is certified by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, the victim then becomes eligible for the same public benefits and services as any refugee in the United States. 

 

Many people think of Human Trafficking as involving large criminal organizations; but that is not the case at all.  If a foreign national is brought into the US by an individual, company or organization with the false promise of employment, and either there is no job when the foreign national arrives, or the foreign national is held in bondage, or not paid for the work performed, the case may rise to the level of “recruitment of a person for purposes of labor or services, by fraud..”

 

The T-Visa is an interesting visa to consider when dealing with a foreign national who was induced to come to the US for fraudulent purposes.  It is also interesting to consider the opposite end of the spectrum of the T-Visa, in that law enforcement can prosecute a person for Trafficking in Persons, if that person induced a foreign national to come to the US by promises of employment which were fraudulent.

 

You may even know of a person who could benefit from a T-Visa.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?