Immigration

In the question called What must I prove to be eligible for a T visa? we list four requirements that you have to meet. In this section, we explain the first requirement in detail.

Human traffickers recruit, transport, hold, or kidnap their victims and force or trick them into providing sex or labor, known as sex trafficking and labor trafficking. These are the two “severe forms” of trafficking recognized by the government.

Sex trafficking involves the exchange of a sex act for anything of value. If the person providing the sex act is under 18 years old, this will be a severe form of human trafficking by itself. If the person is 18 or older, it becomes a severe form of trafficking only when the trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion. Examples of severe forms of sex trafficking include forcing people to participate in creating pornography, selling or buying women as mail-order brides, or forcing a person to be a prostitute by providing sex in exchange for money or other valuable things. This can take place in many locations, including brothels, massage parlors, workplaces, and family homes; for instance, a trafficker may force his spouse to prostitute herself to his friends.

A sexual assault or any form of forced sex by itself is a serious crime, but it is not necessarily sex trafficking. It only amounts to sex trafficking if the assault or event also includes a promise, offer, or exchange of something of value. If you are undocumented and are sexually assaulted but there is no promise, offer, or exchange of something of value, you may still be eligible for a different visa, related to the T visa, called a U visa.

Labor trafficking means more than working in bad or even unlawful conditions. It involves unpaid work that amounts to slavery, work that is forced upon the person by physical means or threats (involuntary servitude), or debt bondage, which is when you are forced to work to “repay” a debt to the trafficker. However, you are never actually able to repay the debt because the trafficker says you “owe too much” or keeps adding on new “expenses.” For instance, traffickers typically “charge” victims for their transportation to the United States and for their food and lodging once they are here. The traffickers make sure they charge so much that their victims will never be able to repay them. As long as you owe this debt, the trafficker will not let you go, which often means there is no end in sight to being forced to do work you do not want to do.

It also must be the case that there is someone keeping you in these conditions and you cannot leave. If you believe that if you left, it would be hard to find a different job, that may not count. Your employer must be doing something to hold this difficulty against you or make you otherwise unable to leave the job.² 

Labor trafficking can be seen in many kinds of “workplaces.” For instance, domestic workers may be victims of trafficking if they are forced to work in someone’s home, as a maid, nanny, etc., when they do not want to. Labor trafficking may take place in many industries, including agriculture, processing plants, factories, janitorial and food services, nail salons, and more. Traffickers may even force trafficking victims to beg on the streets.¹

Labor and sex trafficking often involve what is called “debt bondage,” which is when you are forced to work to “repay” a debt to the trafficker. However, you are never actually able to repay the debt because the trafficker says you “owe too much” or keeps adding on new “expenses.”² For instance, traffickers typically “charge” victims for their transportation to the United States and for their food and lodging once they are here. The traffickers make sure they charge so much that their victims will never be able to repay them. As long as you owe this debt, the trafficker will not let you go, which often means there is no end in sight to being forced to do work you do not want to do.

To understand how the government decides if you are, in fact, a victim of a severe form of human trafficking, go to How does USCIS determine if I am a victim of a “severe form of human trafficking?”

¹ National Human Trafficking Resource Center Fact Sheet
² 22 U.S.C. § 7102(7), (8)