Transcript:

Vi Nanthaveth 

Hi my name is Vi Nanthaveth. I am the owner and founder of Nanthaveth & Associates. So happy to be here with you, Scott. I thank you for inviting me. We are an immigration law firm that’s based out of Austin, TX and it is comprehensive immigration. Law, we focus. On family immigration as well as employment based immigration. 

Scott Berry 

And I’m Scott Berry, your host for today’s episode. We’re going to be talking about EU visa. With VI and let’s get right to it. OK, we’re here with VI and we’re talking about EU visa. Something maybe people haven’t heard about yet. We’ve never covered it on the episode V. Can you help us understand what EU visa is and how it’s used? 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Sure. Actually you’ve used has been around for quite some time. Whenever I was a rookie attorney. Way back in the day. I I was, I was the person that came in and they were, like, learn about the visa for us and then, you know, let’s help out our clients and what it is basically is is a program that has been utilized to really help the authorities, like the police and, you know, prosecutors trying to solve certain crimes. So if you are a victim of a specific crime and there are specific crimes that are stated in EU visa regulations, if you are a victim of those specific crimes, then you actually might be eligible for U visa, which. Then eventually leads to getting you a green card. 

Scott Berry 

So is is that one of the main benefits of EU visa is that if you do qualify, it’s a path to a green card. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Is a path to a green card and eventually a path through to citizenship, and this you can include your family members as well husband children under the age of 21 can be included with this and everyone benefits. 

Scott Berry 

So is is there a long waiting time? For something like this, is this a quick process or? A long one. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Unfortunately, it has become a much longer waiting time when. 

Scott Berry 

It’s like I almost knew the answer to that right. Like we’re in a situation in the United States right now where it seems like everything is taking a long time. So you have to be patient. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

I’ve. Yeah, that that is very true. But the thing with EU visa though, is that they only give out 10,000 a year, 10,000. Which is not a lot. And so when it first started, when I first started doing this, it would only take about 6 months for this to go through, and then we can then move on to the Green Card application portion of it. Now it’s taking five to six years just to get on the wait list. 

Scott Berry 

Five to six years. Oh. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

To get on the wait list and then once once it gets approved, then you’re in your visa status. You have to be in U visa status for three years. They give it to you for four on your third year. Then you go in and you turn around. You file for the green card. 

Scott Berry 

So this is a long period. Like, are there travel restrictions like are you? How’s that going to work? Because it’s a lot of years while. You’re waiting. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

It is, it is. That’s the only thing. It definitely requires a lot of patience, unfortunately. And when you get the UV’s a you are not able to use that to travel. Once you get to the green card application of it, that’s where we can apply for the travel permit. 

Scott Berry 

Wow. So years of no travel. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Years you might be looking at 10 years. 

Scott Berry 

But if that’s your best or only path to a green card or citizenship. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Correct. 

Scott Berry 

You don’t really have a lot of choices, right? Because a lot of people don’t even have a path to citizenship, so at least someone has one. So the. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Exactly. Exactly. 

Scott Berry 

So in the meantime, what do you do like for three or four or five years while you’re waiting, is it? For the legal consumer, are they just waiting? 

Vi Nanthaveth 

They’re just waiting. Yeah, they’re just waiting patiently. And of course, during that time, a lot can happen. So you still want to make sure, you know, don’t get in trouble with the law and just just kind of lay low and let this thing kind of play itself out. Be patient. That’s the number one thing. 

Scott Berry 

That’s it, OK. Yes. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Be patient. And once you get there, you know, believe it or not, when you think about it, think about it. Just five years ago, how fast that has this is one of the things I say to my prospects and to my clients. You know, if you felt this five years ago, I mean, you think about how fast time flies, right? So that’s the thing. You never know time just. 

Scott Berry 

Right. Could be over. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

Flies. 

Scott Berry 

So I know you can’t speak for every attorney everywhere in the United States. Can we give our listeners just a range of what something like this cost for the consumer to to go down this road? 

Vi Nanthaveth 

I probably say EU visa portion of it now, there is no government fee associated with EU visa. Except for a lot of the clients that do utilize or take advantage of this particular legislation, they a lot of times you have to file a waiver with it and there is a cost with the waiver. The UVA’s application itself doesn’t have a cost, but the waiver does. Now you can also apply for a fee waiver. Of that waiver cost and that’s going to be having to show, you know, any hardships and things like that in order to get that approved back in the day and used to, I used to have no issues with the fee waiver getting or the fee getting. Waved, but nowadays they are kind of, you know, cracking down on that a little bit more. They want a lot of proof on that. I always tell clients like if you can, if you can afford it, if you can save the money to pay for it, just pay for it so that you. Don’t waste time with this and just get it filed so. 

Scott Berry 

That’s the UV’s, huh? Right. And not for everybody. But some people will qualify. It’s probably something that a legal consumer couldn’t figure out on their own, though. Would you recommend that they try to have a consultation with an immigration attorney to see if they qualify? 

Vi Nanthaveth 

I would say so. I would say so, because I’ve had, you know, I’ve met with many prospects and some of them have come in and for instance, I’ve, I’ve had someone come in and and maybe they were hit by a drunk driver. 

Scott Berry 

We’ll get help. 

Vi Nanthaveth 

But unfortunately that’s not on the list, so you know they’re they’re very specific. And then every state has certain titles of what they call their specific crime. And so now you know, you have to kind of match that crime along with how the federal government sees it. So there’s a it’s a little bit more complicated. Than just being a victim of a crime and then qualifying, you do want to make sure that you are, you know, looking at everything and making sure that it kind of fits within that, that window of what a UV. 

Scott Berry 

Is. So if you’re a legal consumer and you have questions about the UV. Visa VI and her firm would be a great place to start with your questions, and you can be found multiple different ways, including your website austinimmigrationattorney.com. They can be found basically Facebook, you know, social media. Tons of directories, easy to locate and does have consultations that she can offer. If you have any further questions then just reach out and thank you for listening today. This podcast has been prepared for general information purposes only and is not legal advice. This information is not intended to create and receipt of it does not constitute an attorney-client relationship.