The U Visa and T Visa are both humanitarian protections created under U.S. immigration law. U Visas offer temporary legal status to victims of certain qualifying crimes, while T Visas are designated for survivors of human trafficking who have complied with reasonable requests from law enforcement and would suffer extreme hardship if removed from the United States.
Both U and T visas require credible documentation of the trauma experienced. Understanding the psychological components of these visas begins with identifying how trauma, fear, and lasting psychological effects are present in individuals who have endured significant harm.
Immigration psychological evaluations play a central role in identifying these psychological factors and documenting them in a legally relevant and clinically valid manner for immigration proceedings. At Immigration Psychology, our immigration psychologists can identify, evaluate, and articulate the mental health impact of those experiences through structured, neutral assessments.
Psychological Impact of Qualifying Crimes and Trafficking on Victims
Many individuals seeking protection through a U or T Visa have endured experiences that meet diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, or somatic symptom disorders. In U Visa cases, victims may be survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, kidnapping, or felonious assault. For T Visa applicants, the trauma may involve coercion, exploitation, forced labor, or commercial sex acts.
Symptoms may include persistent fear, flashbacks, sleep disturbances, avoidance behaviors, guilt, hypervigilance, and an impaired ability to trust others. Survivors of human trafficking often present with disorientation, pervasive fear of retaliation, feelings of shame, and symptoms linked to chronic trauma exposure. These symptoms can significantly impair functioning in everyday life, and documenting impairment can inform legal matters related to hardship, T Visa, U Visa and other matters.
How Immigration Evaluations Document the Psychological Components of U and T Visas
For U and T Visa cases, an immigration psychological evaluation can help describe the nature of the trauma, its components and its consequences.
These evaluations are not therapy sessions, nor are they geared toward treatment planning. Rather, they involve a detailed clinical interview, validated psychological testing when appropriate, behavioral observations, credibility testing and a review of relevant records.
The goal is to provide an independent opinion about the individual’s psychological functioning and mental health symptoms in relation to the crime or trafficking event.
In a U Visa psychological evaluation, the examiner identifies psychological harm directly related to the qualifying crime. This includes determining the nature of the harm and its consequences, including impairment across settings. It also explores whether there has been substantial mental suffering. The psychological report may include detailed descriptions of trauma-linked conditions, behavioral patterns, and a prognosis.
In a T Visa psychological evaluation, the focus includes identifying the psychological consequences of trafficking and evaluating for extreme hardship if the individual were to be removed from the United States. An immigration psychologist assesses how these conditions have shaped the applicant’s psychological condition and future well-being.
Psychological evaluations for U and T Visa applicants often reveal patterns that are common in trauma survivors:
- Delayed symptom disclosure due to shame or fear
- Cultural barriers that shape how trauma is understood, expressed, or suppressed.
- Reluctance to engage with authority figures due to shame, lack of aware of their rights, and trauma-related avoidance.
Forensic psychological evaluations can identify and contextualize these patterns. When presented properly, they offer a fuller picture of the individual’s psychological experience and its relevance in immigration proceedings.
We Conduct Psychological Evaluations for U and T Visa Cases
Immigration courts and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) do not make determinations based solely on self-reported narratives. Instead, they rely on multiple sources of information or evidence to assess the merits of a claim. Psychological evaluations can be among those sources of information if your immigration attorney believes it necessary. Not all cases need a psychological evaluation.
To know the psychological components of U Visa and T Visa cases means recognizing how trauma, coercion, and abuse impact mental health and functioning. Immigration evaluations provide a reliable method of documenting these effects through structured, independent psychological assessment.
At Immigration Psychology, our role is to provide a clinically informed, legally relevant, and neutral opinion based on the data collected. If you have any questions about our process, methods, fees or availability, contact us today to learn more about U Visa and T Visa immigration evaluations.