USCIS’ New Policy on Application Forms Harms Survivors

On February 6, 2020, ASISTA sent a letter to USCIS and to the CIS Ombudsman’s office regarding the December 30, 2019 announcement that USCIS may reject Form I-918 U visa forms if there is a blank field. This significant shift in policy and practice creates enormous hardship for survivors and their families, and strains valuable resources for service providers and U visa certifying agencies. We call on USCIS to immediately withdraw the announcement and to accept and receipt in all I-918 applications that were rejected pursuant to the I-918 Alert and restore their initial filing date nunc pro tunc.

A recent Washington Post article focuses on the impact this new policy has on immigrant survivors of violence. Read more here.