How to Get a U Visa Certification on Form I-918 Supplement B

Every U visa petition must include Form I-918, Supplement B, U Nonimmigrant Status Certification, signed by an official of the agency that investigated or prosecuted the crime. Without it USCIS will not approve the petition, and no amount of other evidence substitutes for it. The certification is also the one piece of the case that is in someone else’s hands. Agencies are not required to sign, and many have no process for deciding whether to. Knowing who can sign Form I-918 Supplement B, how long a signature stays valid and how to ask for it is often the difference between a filed petition and a file that sits in a drawer.

What Form I-918 Supplement B certifies

The certifying official attests to a limited set of facts: that the petitioner was the victim of qualifying criminal activity, that the official’s agency investigated or prosecuted it, that the petitioner possesses information about the crime, and that the petitioner has been, is being or is likely to be helpful. The form asks the certifier to identify the criminal activity, cite the statute, describe the victim’s involvement and note any injuries known to the agency. It does not ask the agency to decide whether the petitioner deserves a visa. That decision belongs to USCIS, which independently reviews the harm, the admissibility and the rest of the case. Our humanitarian immigration practice explains this distinction to certifiers because many hesitate out of a mistaken belief that signing grants status.

Who can sign the certification

The regulations define a certifying agency as any federal, state, local, tribal or territorial agency with responsibility for the detection, investigation or prosecution of qualifying criminal activity. That includes police departments and sheriffs, prosecutors’ offices, judges, and agencies that are not traditional law enforcement but have investigative authority over listed crimes: the Department of Labor and state labor departments for involuntary servitude and fraud in foreign labor contracting, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for workplace sexual assault, and child protective services for abuse of children. The form must be signed by the head of the agency or by a supervisor the head has designated to sign U visa certifications. A patrol officer who took the report usually cannot sign; the request has to reach the right desk.

The six-month rule and other timing traps

A certification must be signed within six months before the date the petition is filed with USCIS. A certification signed in January and filed in August is stale, and USCIS will reject or deny the petition. If the rest of the case is not ready, it is better to hold the request until the declaration and the evidence of harm are nearly complete, then obtain the signature and file promptly. Beyond the six-month rule, the case the agency investigated does not need to be open. A closed investigation, a dismissed charge or a conviction from years ago can all be certified, as long as the agency confirms the victim’s helpfulness at the time. There is no deadline measured from the date of the crime.

How to request a certification

A certification request is a short, well-organized package. We send the agency:

• A cover letter identifying the victim, the incident, the police report or case number, and the listed crime with the matching state statute.
• A copy of the blank Supplement B with the parts the agency must complete marked, and a summary of what the form does and does not do.
• A short statement of the victim’s cooperation: the report made, interviews given, court appearances, protective orders obtained.
• The agency’s own U visa certification policy, if it has one, and a request for a decision within the time that policy sets.
• Our contact information and a release signed by the client so the agency can discuss the file with us.

Follow-up is part of the work. Many agencies route requests to a single coordinator, and a polite call after two weeks often moves a request that would otherwise wait months.

When the agency refuses or delays

No federal appeal exists from an agency’s refusal to certify, so the response is to find another path. A different agency may have been involved in the same crime: the prosecutor’s office that filed charges, the judge who issued a protective order, or the child protective services unit that opened a file. The facts may support a different qualifying crime that a different agency investigated. Several states have passed laws that require agencies to respond to certification requests within a set period and limit the grounds for refusal; we check whether the agency sits in such a state and cite the law when it applies. If every certifier refuses, the U visa may be unavailable, but other relief, including a VAWA self-petition where the abuser is a citizen or resident, may not require any certification at all.

Helpfulness continues after the signature

The certification confirms past and present helpfulness, but the duty continues. A petitioner who later refuses a reasonable request from the prosecutor, fails to appear as a witness or stops responding can see the agency withdraw its certification, and USCIS can deny or revoke on that basis. At the green card stage under INA 245(m), USCIS again asks whether the applicant unreasonably refused to assist. We advise clients to keep the agency’s contact information, respond to every request, and tell us immediately if something makes cooperation unsafe, because a reasonable fear for safety is a legitimate reason that should be documented rather than ignored. Which crimes can be certified in the first place is covered in our post on U visa qualifying crimes, and the group overview of asylum and humanitarian protection describes how the U visa fits with the other options.

If you reported a crime and need a law enforcement certification, we can identify the right agency and prepare the request. Schedule a consultation.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this communication.

Attorney Sena Sahin. Clear advice for individuals, families, and business owners.

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