U Visa Evaluation for Crime Victims
A U visa evaluation is a psychosocial evaluation written to support a U nonimmigrant status petition. It documents the crime you survived and the mental harm it caused, in the kind of clinical detail an attorney needs to show substantial abuse. At Neema Counseling, a Licensed Professional Counselor conducts the evaluation over secure video, wherever you are in Texas or Colorado. The fee is $750, and the finished report usually takes three to five weeks.
Why a U visa case often includes a mental health evaluation
U nonimmigrant status is for people who were victims of a qualifying crime in the United States, who suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result, and who have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution. The petition is filed on Form I-918, and it requires a certification from a law enforcement agency on Supplement B.
The phrase that decides many cases is substantial physical or mental abuse. Physical injuries usually leave records, but mental harm often doesn't. A person can be deeply hurt by a crime and live with nightmares and panic for years, and still have nothing in their file that shows it except their own statement.
A written psychosocial evaluation is how that harm gets documented. The evaluator listens to your whole account, records it carefully, and describes the mental health effects with clinical reasoning, including what the symptoms are, how severe they are, how long they have lasted, and how they show up in everyday life. For many petitioners, it becomes the only clinical record of what the crime did to them.
Whether your petition needs an evaluation, and what it should address, is your attorney's decision, and our role is to write the clinical report. We ask that you have an attorney in place before you schedule.
Who a U visa evaluation is for
- A direct victim of a qualifying crime, which includes domestic violence, sexual assault, felonious assault, stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, witness tampering, human trafficking, and others
- An indirect victim, such as a parent or spouse of a victim who was killed or incapacitated
- A bystander victim who suffered harm as a result of the crime
- A qualifying family member included in a petition, when the attorney asks for an evaluation
Whether a particular crime qualifies, and who counts as a victim, is a legal question for your attorney. We will work from whatever your attorney tells us the report needs to address.
What the evaluation documents
Over two video meetings (and occasionally a third), the evaluator puts together a record of:
- The crime and its circumstances. What happened, described in your own words and in your own order, with the detail the report needs and nothing more.
- The harm you carry. This includes symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, hypervigilance, fear of leaving the house, and anything else the crime left behind.
- How substantial that harm is. How severe it is, how long it has lasted, and the ways it affects your work, school, parenting, and relationships. This is the part that speaks most directly to the legal standard.
- What life looked like before. Having a picture of your life before the crime matters, because the change is part of the evidence.
- Your cooperation with law enforcement, and what it has cost you emotionally to report the crime and keep participating.
- What has held you together. The people you lean on, and the work, faith, or routines that are still going. A report that only describes the damage is less helpful than one that also shows what has held strong.
The report is objective. It lays out what you described and what the evaluator observed, with the clinical reasoning behind each conclusion, and it leaves the legal argument to your attorney.
Safety, privacy, and pace
Every one of our immigration evaluations is conducted by secure video, so you get to choose where you are when you talk with us. Nothing about the evaluation requires the person who harmed you to participate or even know it is happening, and the report is written for your attorney to use in your case.
Describing a crime is hard, and describing it to someone you've just met can be even harder. The interview will follow your pace. You can take a break for a minute or stop for the day, and you will never be asked for more detail than the report actually needs.
Cost and timeline
The fee for a U visa evaluation is $750, which includes the interviews, any document review, and the written report. Please plan on three to five weeks from your final appointment to the finished report. If a filing date is coming up soon, please ask us about an expedited report, which carries an additional fee and depends on which clinicians have availability. Our free 15-minute counseling consultation doesn't apply to evaluations.
Who performs the evaluation
Our immigration evaluations are conducted by Licensed Professional Counselors, and they are psychosocial and mental health evaluations. If your attorney needs formal expert testimony from a psychologist or formal psychological testing, we will refer you to a colleague who provides it, rather than take on a case we aren't the right fit for. Knowing that at the start is much easier for everyone than finding out after the report has been filed.
Counseling after the evaluation
An evaluation is an assessment with a clear end date, and it isn't meant to be therapy. Telling your story for the evaluation can stir up a lot, and U visa cases often involve long waits. We offer immigration counseling and trauma therapy in English and Spanish online across Texas and Colorado, and in person at our Austin office in English and Spanish and at our Houston office in English.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the law enforcement certification before the evaluation?
No. The certification on Supplement B and the evaluation are separate parts of your file, and they can be worked on in either order. Your attorney will let you know what order makes the most sense for your case.
Will the person who committed the crime find out about the evaluation?
Not from us. They play no part in the evaluation, and the report goes only to your attorney.
Can I come to an office for the evaluation?
No. We conduct immigration evaluations only by video, anywhere in Texas or Colorado, so you can choose a private place where you feel safe to talk.
How much does a U visa evaluation cost, and how long does it take?
The fee is $750, and most reports are finished within three to five weeks of your final appointment. A faster turnaround is sometimes possible for an additional fee if a clinician has availability.
Can I do the evaluation in Spanish?
Yes. Fabian Armenta, LPC, conducts U visa evaluations in Spanish, so the whole evaluation can take place in Spanish without an interpreter. Lauren Jones, LPC-S, also works with Spanish-speaking clients, with Elvia Delgado, LPC-Associate, assisting with translation. Just let us know which you would prefer when you get in touch.
What if the crime happened years ago?
That is very common, and it isn't a problem for the evaluation. Harm that has lasted for years is part of what the report describes. Your attorney will advise you on how the timing affects your petition.
Does the evaluation guarantee my petition will be approved?
No. USCIS makes the decision, and your petition is made up of many pieces. What the evaluation adds is a complete clinical record of the harm, written by someone who listened to your whole account.
Schedule a U visa evaluation
When your attorney has asked for a U visa evaluation, you can schedule an immigration evaluation with Neema Counseling. We meet with you by video from anywhere in Texas or Colorado, the fee is $750, and most reports are ready in three to five weeks. If you'd like to read about the interviews before you call, take a look at what to expect from an immigration evaluation.