VAWA Cases
Your abuser held your immigration status over you. That ends now. You can get legal status without them ever knowing you applied. You don't need their permission to be free.
What You Need to Know Right Now
Your Abuser Will Never Know
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1367, USCIS cannot contact your abuser, cannot notify them, and cannot use any information they provide against you. This is federal law.
You Do Not Need a Police Report
The “any credible evidence” standard under INA § 204(a)(1)(J) means USCIS must consider whatever evidence you have. Your own statement counts.
Work Permit Available While Pending
After a prima facie determination, you can apply for work authorization. Current processing: 41 to 47 months total, but deferred action comes much sooner.
Safety note: If you are reading this from a shared device, you can clear your browser history or use a private/incognito window. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Your Abuser Controls Your Immigration Status. That Is Exactly What VAWA Was Designed to Stop.
You may believe that if you report the abuse or leave your abuser, you will be deported. Your abuser may have told you this. They may have threatened to withdraw a petition they filed for you, or told you that without them, you have no right to be in this country. That is exactly the kind of control that Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Act to break.
Under INA Section 204(a)(1)(A)(iii)-(iv), you have the right to file your own immigration petition without your abuser knowing, without their cooperation, and without their consent. USCIS has a dedicated VAWA Unit at the Vermont Service Center staffed by specially trained adjudicators who understand the dynamics of domestic violence. The process is designed to protect you, not expose you.
This is not a loophole or a workaround. This is a right that Congress specifically created for people in your exact situation. In over 20 years of immigration practice, we have helped survivors use this right to build lives free from fear. You do not have to stay in a dangerous situation to keep your immigration status.
Who Can File a VAWA Self-Petition
Congress extended VAWA protections to spouses, children, and parents who have been abused by a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family member. You do not need legal status to file.
Abused Spouses
If your husband or wife is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and has subjected you to battery or extreme cruelty, you can file a VAWA self-petition on your own. You do not need to be currently married. If you divorced because of the abuse, you may still file within two years. VAWA protects people of all genders.
Most CommonAbused Children
If your parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and has abused you, you can self-petition before you turn 25. If you are under 21, your other parent who was not the abuser may also be included on your petition as a derivative beneficiary.
Abused Parents
If your adult U.S. citizen son or daughter (age 21 or older) has subjected you to battery or extreme cruelty, you are eligible to self-petition. This category is less well known but equally protected under the statute.
What Counts as Abuse Under VAWA
Under 8 CFR 204.2(c)(1)(vi), VAWA covers both battery and extreme cruelty. Battery means physical violence: hitting, kicking, choking, sexual assault, forced detention. But the law goes far beyond physical harm.
Extreme cruelty includes threats of violence, verbal abuse, controlling behavior, isolation from friends and family, withholding access to money, threats to call immigration on you or have you deported, psychological manipulation, and any pattern of behavior designed to maintain power and control over you.
You do not need to show physical injury. You do not need a police report. You do not need a criminal conviction against your abuser. USCIS evaluates the totality of the circumstances, and the law is written to recognize that domestic violence takes many forms.
The Evidence Standard Is on Your Side
Congress understood that abuse survivors often cannot gather evidence the way other immigration applicants can. Your abuser may control the documents. You may not have gone to the police. You may not have told anyone.
That is why INA Section 204(a)(1)(J) establishes the “any credible evidence” standard. USCIS is required to consider any credible evidence relevant to the petition, whether or not it would be admissible in a court of law. Your personal declaration, standing alone, can be sufficient if it is detailed, consistent, and credible.
We help you write that declaration. We help you identify evidence you may not realize you have. And we present it in a way that meets USCIS requirements while telling your story with the weight it deserves.
Federal Law Protects Your Confidentiality
8 U.S.C. Section 1367 Protections
This is one of the strongest confidentiality protections in all of immigration law. Under this statute, the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, ICE, and CBP are all prohibited from making any disclosure that could be used to locate or identify you to your abuser. This protection applies at every stage of the process.
What This Means for You
Your abuser cannot sabotage your case. If they try to contact USCIS to withdraw a petition they filed for you, or to provide negative information about you, USCIS is prohibited from considering it. If your abuser calls ICE on you, and you have a pending or approved VAWA petition, that information cannot be used against you.
What Happens After You Call Us
Every step is confidential. Every step is designed to protect you. Here is exactly how this works.
A Safe, Confidential Conversation
You tell us what happened. Everything you say is protected by attorney-client privilege. We evaluate whether you qualify and explain every step of what comes next. Your abuser will never know you contacted us.
We Gather Your Evidence
Under the 'any credible evidence' standard, USCIS must consider whatever you can provide. Your own declaration. Police reports if you have them. Protection orders. Medical or counseling records. Statements from people who witnessed the abuse or its effects. Photos. Text messages. We help you identify and organize everything available to you.
We File Form I-360 with the VAWA Unit
Your self-petition goes directly to the USCIS VAWA Unit at the Vermont Service Center. The filing is confidential under 8 U.S.C. Section 1367. USCIS will not contact your abuser, will not contact anyone associated with your abuser, and will not disclose that you filed.
Prima Facie Determination and Work Authorization
USCIS reviews your petition and, if the initial evidence supports your claim, issues a prima facie determination. This makes you eligible for deferred action, which means you cannot be removed from the country while your case is pending. It also lets you apply for a work permit so you can support yourself independently.
Approval and Path to Your Green Card
Once your VAWA self-petition is approved, you become eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence. If your abuser is a U.S. citizen, you may be able to adjust status right away. If your abuser is a lawful permanent resident, you may wait for visa availability. Either way, you now have a path to a green card and eventually citizenship, completely independent of your abuser.
Processing Times and What to Expect
VAWA self-petitions are adjudicated exclusively by the USCIS VAWA Unit at the Vermont Service Center. As of 2025, total processing time for Form I-360 VAWA self-petitions is approximately 41 to 47 months. That is a long time, and we will not pretend otherwise. But the most important protections come much earlier.
The prima facie determination, which typically comes within several months of filing, gives you deferred action status. That means you cannot be removed from the United States while your case is pending. It also makes you eligible for a work permit, so you can support yourself and your children without depending on your abuser.
USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-33, issued in December 2025, updated guidance on how the VAWA Unit adjudicates these petitions and reinforced the “any credible evidence” standard. We stay current on every policy change so your case is prepared under the most up-to-date requirements.
Your Path Forward
Prima Facie Determination
Deferred action and work permit eligibility. Comes within months of filing.
I-360 Petition Approval
Full approval of your VAWA self-petition. Currently 41 to 47 months.
Green Card Application
Adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident once your petition is approved and a visa is available.
Citizenship
After holding your green card for the required period, you can apply for naturalization. Your abuser has no role in any of this.
You Deserve to Be Safe and Free
You are not the first person to call us afraid that leaving means losing everything. We have walked this path with survivors who had nothing when they started and who now have green cards, jobs, homes, and lives they built on their own terms. The law is on your side. We are on your side.
We speak English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Russian, Sinhala, and Tamil. You can talk to us in the language you are most comfortable in. Everything is confidential.
Related Services
You Do Not Need Their Permission to Be Free.
Your abuser told you that you have no options. That is not true. The law gives you the right to petition for your own immigration status, in secret, without their knowledge or consent. Call us. The conversation is confidential. The first step is the hardest one, and you do not have to take it alone.