Written by Evelyn Finn-Wilson
In April 2026, after nearly a decade of waiting, Sunny, an ILJNY client, received U Nonimmigrant Status – known colloquially as a “U Visa”, which will allow her to stay and work in the US while she waits for a three year period before applying for a green card.
Sunny underwent a traumatic assault in 2017 during her time studying as a graduate student in social work. After the assault, the sister of a friend who worked as a lawyer referred her to a program called the Immigrant Visa Assistance Project (IVAP), a joint initiative between ILJNY and Brooklyn Law School that allowed law students to get experience preparing affidavits for immigrant visa applications.
Through IVAP, Sunny was put into contact with TJ Mills, a lawyer at Immigration Law and Justice New York, who advised her to apply for a U-Visa. The U-Visa program was established in 2000 by Congress for survivors of violent crime, like assault or trafficking, in efforts to encourage cooperation with law enforcement in investigations.
A problem with the U-Visa application system is that there is a statutory cap of only 10,000 U-Visa beneficiaries per year. This means that applicants are forced to wait for years in legal limbo while waiting for their case to be adjudicated. Fortunately, Sunny received a work permit through Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Bonafide Determination policy, which allows applicants to receive a temporary work permit while they wait for their U-Visa status to be determined. The work permit allowed her to pay for grad school, which was very expensive, and to care for herself and others around her.
While Sunny waited, graduated, and began to work, TJ and the students at Brooklyn Law were receptive and communicative throughout the long process. They were especially sensitive to addressing the painful memories which were necessary for the client to revisit when drafting her application. “[The lawyers] helped me feel at ease rehashing the trauma of the incident that had me filing the U-visa in the first place.” She said that the students and lawyers were trained to grapple with trauma in clients, which is an inherent factor of U-Visa applications.
Sunny spoke about the deep sense of fear that she felt living in a state of limbo without defined status, especially in an era of federal antagonism against migrant communities. Her anxieties around her status were especially heightened as Donald Trump entered his second term, with ICE deportations rapidly increasing. After receiving her U-Visa in 2026, she felt a deep sense of relief and saw a pathway forward to citizenship. “It has been really helpful for me to receive my U-Visa Status especially given the current policy climate and hatred towards immigrants.” Sunny now works in social work, and looks forward to receiving her green card in three years, for a more permanent status. In April, she received a package of all the documents pertaining to her case over the past nine years from TJ. She had also been saving them, but took it as a sign of the deep care and attention the lawyers at ILJNY pay to each case.
Despite the relief of receiving her status, she still recognizes the constant changes to immigration status caused by the current administration. It is the work of organizations like ILJNY, aiding those in her position, that gives her a sense of optimism for the future, and faith in her neighbors. “I know there are a lot of provisions coming out changing what it means to receive the U-Visa. I am hopeful seeing the work of ILJNY and others receiving the same support I received, in order to live in less fear of the hateful immigration rhetoric that’s coming out right now.”
** To protect Sunny’s privacy, a pseudonym has been used in this story.
Article image via Frank Kastle on Upsplash