8 C.F.R. § 214.201

Current through October 31, 2024

Section 214.201 - Definitions

Where applicable, USCIS will apply the definitions provided in section 103 and 107(e) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), 22 U.S.C. 7102 , and 8 U.S.C. 1101 , 1182(d) , and 1184 , with due regard for the definitions and application of these terms in 28 CFR part 1100 and the provisions of 1 8 U.S.C. 77 . As used in this section the term:

Abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action.

Application for Derivative T Nonimmigrant Status means a request by a principal applicant on behalf of an eligible family member for derivative T-2, T-3, T-4, T-5, or T-6 nonimmigrant status on an Application for T Nonimmigrant Status.

Application for T Nonimmigrant Status means a request by a principal applicant for T-1 nonimmigrant status on the form designated by USCIS for that purpose.

Child means a person described in section 101(b)(1) of the Act.

Coercion means threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.

Commercial sex act means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.

Debt bondage means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of their personal services or those of a person under their control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.

Derivative T nonimmigrant means an eligible family member who has been granted T-2, T-3, T-4, T-5, or T-6 derivative status. A family member outside of the United States is not a derivative T nonimmigrant until they are issued a T-2, T-3, T-4, T-5, or T-6 visa by the Department of State and they are admitted to the United States in derivative T nonimmigrant status.

Eligible family member means:

(1) A family member eligible for derivative T nonimmigrant status based on their relationship to a principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant and, if required, upon a showing of a present danger of retaliation;

(2) In the case of a principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant who is 21 years of age or older, the spouse and children of such applicant;

(3) In the case of a principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant under 21 years of age, the spouse, children, unmarried siblings under 18 years of age, and parents of such applicant; and

(4) Regardless of the age of a principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant, any parent or unmarried sibling under 18 years of age, or adult or minor child of a derivative of such principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant where the family member faces a present danger of retaliation as a result of the principal applicant or T-1 nonimmigrant's escape from a severe form of trafficking in persons or cooperation with law enforcement.

Involuntary servitude, for the purposes of this part:

(1) Means a condition of servitude induced by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such condition, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or a condition of servitude induced by the abuse or threatened abuse of legal process; and

(2) Includes a condition of servitude in which the victim is forced to work for the trafficker by the use or threat of physical restraint or physical injury, or by the use or threat of coercion through the law or the legal process. This definition encompasses those cases in which the trafficker holds the victim in servitude by placing the victim in fear of such physical restraint or injury or legal coercion.

Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) means a Federal, State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency, prosecutor, judge, labor agency, children's protective services agency, adult protective services agency, or other

Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) declaration means an official LEA declaration submitted on the Declaration for Trafficking Victim.

Law enforcement involvement, for purposes of establishing physical presence, means law enforcement action beyond receiving the applicant's reporting and may include the LEA interviewing the applicant or otherwise becoming involved in detecting, investigating, or prosecuting the acts of trafficking.

Peonage means a status or condition of involuntary servitude based upon real or alleged indebtedness.

Principal applicant means a noncitizen who has filed an Application for T Nonimmigrant Status.

Request for assistance means a request made by an LEA to a victim to assist in the detection, investigation, or prosecution of the acts of trafficking in persons or the investigation of a crime where acts of trafficking are at least one central reason for the commission of that crime. The reasonableness of the request is assessed using the factors delineated at § 214.208(c).

Serious harm means any harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm, that is sufficiently serious, under all the surrounding circumstances, to compel a reasonable person of the same background and in the same circumstances to perform or to continue performing labor or services in order to avoid incurring that harm.

Severe form of trafficking in persons means sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act is under the age of 18 years; or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Sex trafficking means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.

T-1 nonimmigrant means the victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons who has been granted T-1 nonimmigrant status.

United States means the fifty States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons (victim) means a noncitizen who is or has been subjected to a severe form of trafficking in persons.

8 C.F.R. §214.201

89 FR 34931 , 8/28/2024