Rights and Protections for Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence

Foreign nationals who immigrate to the United States may not be familiar with the laws of the United States. United States wants the immigrants to know about the country and wants them to know that domestic abuse, child abuse and sexual assault are illegal activities and that all the people in the United States and victims of domestic violence, regardless of their immigration status will be protected by the US laws and can receive help.

USCIS has published a webpage that contains information about domestic violence and other illegal activities. Fiancé(e)s of US citizens applying for K-1 visas, spouses of US citizens who are applying for K-3 visas, spouses of US citizens applying for IR-1/CR-1 immigrant visas and spouses of Green Card holders applying for F2A immigrant visas, can make use of the pamphlets and the webpage, to know about their legal rights.

Moreover, foreign citizen fiancé(e)s and spouses applying for K-1 and K-3 visas, may obtain background information about their US citizen fiancé(e)s and spouses. While processing Form I-129F, USCIS and DHS will receive criminal background information about the US citizens from the other federal agencies and the K-1 and K-3 visa applicants will be provided with that information.

Based on the US laws and the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, US government has created this pamphlet that contains information about how the government protects the victims of domestic abuse and how the government fights domestic violence.

Hence, the above mentioned visa applicants will have to go through the pamphlet and know about the rights and protections, before they could appear for the visa interview. They will then be able to receive help when they are in need of help, while in the United States. However, the US immigration officer will inform you about the pamphlet during the visa interview and you may keep the pamphlet with you for your reference. This pamphlet is now available in 14 different languages.