Understanding the U Visa BFD Grant Surge
A U visa BFD grant became far more common in Fiscal Year 2024. New data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows the agency granted 102,157 U visa Bona Fide Determinations that year. That figure more than doubled the totals from either of the two preceding years. The U visa BFD process allows crime victims awaiting a final decision on their petition to access work authorization and deportation protection. It has become an increasingly significant pathway for vulnerable immigrants. The sharp increase in U visa BFD approvals reflects a dramatic expansion of USCIS processing capacity. This comes at a moment when hundreds of thousands of petitions remain pending in the agency’s backlog.
Background
The U nonimmigrant visa exists to protect victims of certain serious crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse. It applies to those who assist law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of that criminal activity. Congress created the visa category with a statutory annual cap of 10,000 U-1 visas. Qualifying victims can eventually become lawful permanent residents. Petitioners routinely exhaust the cap years in advance. So USCIS developed the Bona Fide Determination process to provide interim relief to petitioners who cannot yet receive a final approval.
Under the BFD framework, USCIS reviews a pending Form I-918 petition. The agency checks whether it appears, on its face, to be legitimate and complete. A positive BFD does not approve the U visa itself. It grants deferred action and work authorization while the petitioner waits in line for a visa number to become available. USCIS began issuing BFDs in June 2021 after publishing a policy memo that created the mechanism. This makes the FY 2021 data the first full reporting period for the program.
What Is Changing with U Visa BFD Grants
The USCIS data released in July 2026 covers Fiscal Years 2021 through the third quarter of FY 2026. The numbers show a striking jump between FY 2023 and FY 2024. In FY 2023, USCIS granted a total of 39,110 BFDs across both victim and family member petitions. In FY 2024, that number climbed to 102,157 granted BFDs. That is an increase of more than 161 percent in a single year.
The FY 2024 total breaks down into two groups. Direct crime victims (U-1 petitioners) received 72,438 BFDs, and qualifying family members (U-2 through U-5 petitioners) received 29,719. FY 2024 also saw 24,536 petitions deemed BFD ineligible, a figure that grew proportionally with the increase in overall reviews. FY 2025 extended the trend, with 103,196 total BFDs granted. However, denials also rose significantly, to 42,290 for that year. The data does not state an official explanation for the surge in approvals. It also does not explain the parallel rise in ineligibility determinations.
Form I-918 Performance Data — FY2026 Q3 Infographics
The four charts below break down Form I-918 (U visa) performance data for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, including an overall summary, a category breakdown, pending caseload by fiscal year, and bona fide determination reviews. Swipe or scroll the charts sideways, or use the arrows and dots below to move between them. Each chart can be opened at full size in a new tab.
Source: DHS / USCIS, Office of Performance and Quality — CLAIMS3 and ELIS data, queried July 2026. The underlying quarterly reports are published on the USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data page.
Who Is Affected by a U Visa BFD Grant
The direct beneficiaries of positive BFD decisions are individuals who have filed Form I-918 petitions as victims of qualifying criminal activity. They are waiting in the U visa backlog. This population is concentrated among immigrants who have experienced serious crimes including domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other enumerated offenses. They have cooperated with law enforcement through a certified Form I-918B supplement from a qualifying authority.
Family members of crime victims — typically spouses, children, or parents, depending on the victim's age — file as derivative beneficiaries. The BFD statistics also capture them as a separate category. Both groups benefit directly when USCIS grants a U visa BFD grant. They gain access to employment authorization and temporary deportation relief.
Shifts in USCIS BFD processing volume indirectly affect attorneys representing U visa petitioners. They also affect victim advocacy organizations and legal aid groups that assist undocumented survivors. Employers who may have clients or employees with pending U visa petitions also have a practical stake in this issue. They need to understand what a BFD means — and what it does not mean — for a worker's immigration status.
Practical Implications
The most important thing affected petitioners need to understand is that a BFD grant is not a U visa approval. It offers interim relief tied to a deferred action determination, and it does not guarantee eventual U visa status. The statutory annual cap remains fixed at 10,000. The backlog of qualifying petitioners continues to significantly exceed that number each year. Petitioners who receive a BFD should treat the grant as a valuable bridge — not as a final destination.
The dramatic increase in FY 2024 BFD grants may reflect internal processing changes or resource allocations at USCIS. The data itself, however, does not explain the cause. What the data does suggest is this: petitioners who filed in prior years and had not yet received a BFD review may have finally moved through the queue during FY 2024 and FY 2025.
The simultaneous rise in BFD ineligibility findings warrants attention. Figures rose from 13,847 in FY 2023 to 24,536 in FY 2024 and 42,290 in FY 2025. An ineligibility finding at the BFD stage does not necessarily mean a final denial of U visa status. But it does mean the petitioner will not receive interim deferred action or employment authorization while waiting. Understanding why USCIS flags a petition as BFD ineligible requires close analysis of the individual filing. Attorneys must also determine whether the issue can be addressed.
For petitioners currently in the backlog, the FY 2026 data shows a meaningful slowdown in U visa BFD grants. USCIS granted only 19,124 total BFDs through the first three quarters of FY 2026, compared to the pace it set in FY 2024 and FY 2025. This deceleration may signal changes in USCIS prioritization, staffing, or policy — none of which the statistical release itself explains.
What to Watch For Next
USCIS has not announced any formal policy changes to the BFD process alongside this data release. Stakeholders should monitor the agency's official policy manual and news pages for any guidance updates. The Q4 FY 2026 figures are not yet available and will complete the annual picture when published. The significant rise in ineligibility findings through FY 2025 and into FY 2026 is worth tracking. It may indicate a more rigorous initial review standard, or it could reflect the composition of the pending caseload.
Advocates and legal practitioners should also watch for any administrative or regulatory developments affecting U visa policy more broadly. The BFD program operates under agency policy rather than formal rulemaking, so it is subject to change without the notice-and-comment process that governs regulatory changes.
How Immigration Professional Association Can Help With Your U Visa BFD Grant
The U visa process is among the most document-intensive and emotionally demanding pathways in U.S. immigration law. Immigration Professional Association works with crime victims and their families navigating the Form I-918 petition process. Our support ranges from assembling the law enforcement certification to building the strongest possible evidentiary record ahead of BFD review and eventual adjudication.
If your petition has already received a BFD grant, our team can help. We can explain what that determination means for your work authorization, your protection from removal, and your path forward as U visa numbers become available. If your petition was deemed BFD ineligible, there may be options worth exploring. That conversation is worth having with experienced practitioners who understand this specific program in depth.
Immigration Professional Association also assists advocates, nonprofit organizations, and employers whose clients or employees are navigating the U visa backlog. If you or someone you support has a pending U visa petition, you may want a clear-eyed assessment of where things stand. Contact Immigration Professional Association to speak with our team about this specific situation.
