Yes. The T visa regulations allow for cases where the labor, services, or commercial sex act have not been performed.[1]

The USCIS Policy Manual T visa sections clarify that applicants may establish eligibility for T nonimmigrant status even without having performed the labor or service where they can show that the perpetrator’s purpose was to subject them to commercial sex, involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.[2] Legal practitioners making such an attempted trafficking argument will need to be able to prove all the required elements of the severe form of trafficking definition—the process (recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining), the means (force, fraud, or coercion), and the intended ends (labor or sex trafficking).[3]

Additionally, the applicant must demonstrate that they are in the U.S. or at a port of entry on account of that trafficking.[4] In a nutshell, an attempted trafficking argument is essentially that but/for some intervention or the victim’s escape, the perpetrator would have completed the act of trafficking.  

To prove that the trafficker’s purpose was to subject the applicant to forced labor or services or commercial sex in the U.S. when no labor, service, or sex act was performed, applicants should provide concrete details demonstrating why they believe the trafficker’s purpose was to subject them to trafficking. USCIS will look closely for facts and evidence indicating the trafficker’s intention to bring the applicant to the U.S. for the purpose of subjection to labor or sex trafficking.[5]

Remember that an applicant’s declaration alone can serve as the requisite evidence under the T visa any credible evidence standard.[6] Examples of facts indicating the trafficker’s intention that can be explored and included in the applicant’s declaration are:

• The applicant was told by the trafficker that their intention was to force them to engage in commercial sex, involuntary servitude, or debt bondage.
• The applicant overheard the trafficker tell another of the trafficker’s goal of trafficking the applicant in the U.S.
• Actions by the trafficker to put in motion a plan to traffic the applicant (e.g., buying relevant supplies, telling the applicant to engage in certain grooming or beauty regimens, readying a physical space, making phone calls to others, etc.).
• The applicant’s knowledge of other people being forced by the trafficker to engage in commercial sex, involuntary servitude, or debt bondage.

For questions, please join CAST a 1^st Wednesday Legal Working Group call or submit an Individual Technical Assistance Request. For help analyzing potential trafficking cases, see CAST’s Ends-Means-Process Model. 

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Last updated March 2026

[1] See 8 CFR § 214.206(a)(2).

[2] See 3 USCIS-PM B.2(B)(6); B.3(C)(6); see also Classification for Victims of Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons; Eligibility for “T” Nonimmigrant Status, 81 Fed. Reg. 92226, 92270-71 (Dec. 19, 2016) (hereinafter “Preamble to 2016 Interim T Visa Regulations”).

[3] Preamble to 2016 Interim T Visa Regulations at 92271; 3 USCIS-PM B.3(C)(6).

[4] 8 CFR § 214.207(a). For more on the T visa physical presence requirement, see CAST’s physical presence toolkit.

[5] See, e.g., In Re: 05083923 (AAO Jan 17, 2020 non-precedent decision)(discussing the applicant’s consistent, detailed statements about her interactions with the perpetrators and statements made by the perpetrators and others close to them to demonstrate their purpose of subjecting her to sex trafficking in the U.S.); In Re: 21712344 (AAO June 29, 2022 non-precedent decision) (discussing the applicant’s account of perpetrator statements to him about carrying a backpack and their plan to keep him working for them and finding that he had demonstrated their intent to subject him to involuntary servitude); In Re: [REDACTED] (AAO Sept. 28, 2007 non-precedent decision) (discussing speculative statements regarding the perpetrator’s intent to traffic the applicant and the importance of consistent accounts of the applicant’s interactions with the perpetrators and their treatment of her).

[6] See 8 CFR § 214.204(c) (stating that any credible evidence may be used to demonstrate eligibility for T nonimmigrant status and indicating as required evidence only the applicant’s personal statement); 3 USCIS-PM B.3(C)(1) (discussing the any credible evidence provision). Though an applicant’s declaration alone can provide sufficient evidence of the trafficker’s purpose, the Preamble to the 2016 Interim T Visa Regulations notes that the following evidence can be submitted to demonstrate the trafficker’s purpose: “[c]orrespondence with the trafficker, evidence from an LEA, trial transcripts, court documents, police reports, news articles, and affidavits.” 2016 Interim T Visa Regulations at 92272. However, the most typical evidence of a trafficker’s purpose tends to be the trafficker’s specific statements and actions.

The Preamble to the 2016 Interim T Visa Regulations also states that “[t]he clearest evidence of [the trafficker’s] purpose would be that the victim did in fact perform labor, services, or commercial sex acts.” This evidence would be available in cases where the victim had been previously subjected to trafficking, whether abroad or in the U.S. prior to a departure. Id. at 92272.