On July 15, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has approved 10,000 petitions for U nonimmigrant status (also referred to as the “U visa”) in fiscal year 2010. This is the first time that USCIS reached the statutory maximum of 10,000 U visas per fiscal year since it began issuing U visas in 2008.
USCIS will continue to accept and process new petitions for U nonimmigrant status and will issue a Notice of Conditional Approval to petitioners who are found eligible.
USCIS will resume issuing U visas for fiscal year 2011 on October 1, 2010. Conditionally approved petitioners on the waiting list will receive a U visa in the order in which the petition was initially filed. Petitioners who have received conditional approval must remain admissible and eligible for U nonimmigrant status while on the waiting list.
