Trafficking rarely looks like the movies. It looks like a job where your documents were taken, a debt that grows no matter how much you work, threats about your immigration status if you complain, or being forced into commercial sex. If force, fraud, or coercion kept you working or kept you trapped, U.S. law calls that trafficking, and the T Visa was built to protect you.
What counts as trafficking
- Labor trafficking: being made to work through force, fraud, or coercion, including confiscated passports, debt bondage, threats to you or your family, or threats of deportation
- Sex trafficking: commercial sex induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or any commercial sex involving a minor, regardless of force
You did not have to be smuggled into the country. Trafficking can begin after a completely lawful entry, and it often does.
Who qualifies for a T Visa
- You are or were a victim of a severe form of trafficking
- You are physically present in the United States on account of the trafficking
- You have complied with reasonable requests from law enforcement, with exceptions for survivors under 18 and for trauma
- You would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if removed
A key difference from the U Visa
The T Visa does not require a signed law enforcement certification. An endorsement helps, and we pursue one when it strengthens the case, but your own detailed, credible account, supported by evidence, can carry the application. That difference makes the T Visa reachable for survivors whose traffickers were never prosecuted.
What T status provides
T status is granted for four years and comes with work authorization. Your spouse and children, and in some cases your parents and unmarried minor siblings, may be included. After three years, or earlier if the investigation concludes, you can apply for a green card. The T Visa also has its own annual limit that is rarely reached, so cases are not stuck behind the long waitlists other humanitarian visas face.
We handle these cases the way survivors need
Privately, patiently, and in your language. You will never be pushed to retell your story before you are ready, and nothing gets filed until the risks have been explained to you in plain terms.
If your situation involves abuse by a spouse or family member with status, see our VAWA page. If it involves a violent crime you reported, see the U Visa. Survivors often qualify under more than one form of relief, and we choose the strongest.
My trafficker was a family member or partner. Does it still count?
Yes. Traffickers are often people the survivor knew and trusted. The law looks at the conduct, not the relationship.
I escaped years ago. Is it too late?
Not automatically. Presence "on account of" trafficking is analyzed case by case. Talk to us before assuming time closed the door.
The consultation is free, confidential, and available in English or Spanish. Your story stays in this room until you decide otherwise.