Statement: The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors Applauds USCIS Policy Update on Work Authorization; Focuses on Congressional Appropriations for Implementation
The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS) applauds the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) latest policy alert announcing work authorization for U visa petitioners who present a bona fide case. AIS has long advocated for USCIS to ensure timely work authorization for all immigrant survivors with pending cases and we are grateful for our partners who have worked alongside us to advocate for this crucial protection for immigrant survivors and those within the Administration who helped make it happen.
Recognizing that victims of violence should never be forced to choose between living with abuse or facing deportation, Congress created self-petitioning in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, the U and T visas in VAWA 2000, and has strengthened these provisions in subsequent reauthorizations in 2005 and 2013. Yet, we know that survivors are experiencing egregious delays in the processing of their VAWA self-petitions, U visa, and T visa petitions. Currently there are nearly 270,000 individuals with pending U visa matters, and the processing times just to place these cases on the waitlist is nearly five years. These significant delays, coupled with lack of access to financial resources, can subject survivors and their families to additional risks of violence, exploitation, manipulation, and trauma.
Our next step is ensuring that this policy becomes a reality for immigrant survivors -- through the Congressional appropriations process, USCIS can receive the much-needed resources to appropriately implement this policy guidance, and provide timely access to work authorization to immigrant survivors, ideally within 90-180 days.
“The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors welcomes USCIS’ latest policy update on work authorization for U visa petitioners. We know that access to economic resources is critical for survivors to escape and overcome abuse. It is now up to Congress in their appropriations process to ensure USCIS has the resources to actually implement this crucial protection for immigrant survivors. We must ensure all immigrant survivors, many who have waited far too long already, have a swift pathway to safety and stability to take care of themselves and their families.”
Take Action: Call Your Members of Congress to tell them to provide additional resources for the U visa program to make this policy work for survivors!
Let your Congressmember and Senators know that it is imperative that USCIS receive the proper funding and capacity to actually implement these policies and ensure immigrant survivors timely access to work authorization.
Call the Capitol Switchboard Number at (202) 224-3121; Find your Representative’s information here; your Senator’s here.
Sample Script: Hi! My name is name and I am a resident of [city, state] and I am a voter in Representative/Senator’s [Name]’s district. I’m calling because I care deeply about immigrant survivors of violence and their ability to work to support themselves and their families. In the upcoming Congressional appropriations process, I strongly urge you to appropriate funds to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the DHS Appropriations bill to at least double the number of U visa adjudicators. USCIS needs resources to address the egregious backlog of U visa applications and grant applicants timely work authorization.
Mark your Calendar: On June 30th, the House Appropriations Subcommittee will be hosting a hearing, which you can view here.
For additional ways to support immigrant survivors, see our take action page!
Background:
Recognizing that victims of violence should never be forced to choose between living with abuse or facing deportation, Congress created self-petitioning in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, the U and T visas in VAWA 2000, and has strengthened these provisions in subsequent reauthorizations in 2005 and 2013. Yet we know that survivors are experiencing egregious delays in the processing of their VAWA self-petitions, U visa, and T visa petitions. Currently there are nearly 270,000 individuals with pending U visa matters, and the processing times just to place these cases on the waitlist is nearly five years. These significant delays, coupled with lack of access to financial resources, can subject survivors to additional risks of violence, exploitation, manipulation, and trauma.
AIS has long advocated for USCIS to ensure timely work authorization for all immigrant survivors with pending cases. With this encouraging new policy update from USCIS, we now must ensure that USCIS has the resources to appropriately implement this policy, and provide timely access to work authorization to immigrant survivors, ideally within 90-180 days. Currently, USCIS lacks the staffing and capacity to adequately address the tremendous backlog of applications.
Through the appropriations process, Congress has the opportunity to ensure USCIS has the resources to implement this new policy and give immigrant survivors a pathway to safety and stability. We encourage you to read more about the importance of work authorization for immigrant survivors and ways to take action below!
Why is Access to Timely Work Authorization Crucial for Immigrant Survivors?
Work authorization is essential to ensuring immigrant survivors can access safety and take care of themselves and their families. It allows survivors to leave abusive relationships knowing they can obtain legal and safe employment. It provides survivors with opportunities to find more stable and safer work, and access unemployment insurance and other benefits. Work authorization also provides survivors access to Social Security numbers, paving the way for more access to institutions such as courts, social services, housing, medical care, and education.
In 2018, Her Justice conducted a survey of their immigrant clients, asking about the impact on their lives and their children’s lives of a delay in access to work authorization. The preliminary findings showed that women working without authorization were paid less and are more susceptible to exploitation and harassment on the job, which can be especially harmful for trauma survivors.
In recent litigation, applicants who were unable to get timely employment authorization shared the devastating impact it had on their ability to take care of themselves and their families:
“In addition to difficulty finding work to support her four U.S. citizen children, one survivor has had a hard time finding a safe place to live without a work permit. Since separating from her abusive partner, she has been repeatedly turned away when submitting applications for housing because she does not have a Social Security number. Her older children have held up to two jobs each in addition to going to school to help pay for household bills. She has had an especially difficult time supporting her family because one of her sons was diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia.”
“Without a work permit, one survivor was unable to earn enough money to pay for medication for her father, who passed away. She struggles to support her mother, her daughter, and her three grandchildren. Because she does not have any work authorization, she has been unable to pursue job opportunities… [that] all require her to present a valid EAD.”
“One U visa applicant started attending school later than planned because of administrative delays caused by her lack of a work permit. She has also had to turn down a scholarship offered to her to reward her excellent grades, because the school requires scholarship recipients to have a Social Security number. She is unable to pursue scholarships that many universities offer to transferring community college students because they all require Social Security numbers.”