T visa · Form I-914
Psychological evaluations for T visa applications.
A T visa application asks a person to explain what was done to them, why they could not simply leave, and why they are still here. A psychological evaluation answers the parts of that which are clinical rather than legal.
Every evaluation is completed by a U.S. licensed Doctor of Psychology, virtually, anywhere in the country, in English or Spanish.
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The first call costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We will tell you honestly whether an evaluation is likely to help this case.
At a glance
- Fee
- $1,000, with payment plans over up to six months.
- Interview
- Virtual. One session, or two at no extra charge if the applicant needs to stop.
- Report
- One to two weeks from the interview.
- Languages
- English and Spanish. Interpreters for other languages on request.
- Where
- Nationwide. Nothing to travel to.
Many people who have been trafficked do not describe themselves as victims of trafficking. That gap is itself something an evaluation can explain.
What the evaluation establishes
Trafficking cases turn on questions a document cannot answer: why someone stayed, why they said what they said, and what remains of them now.
Why leaving was not possible
Coercion is rarely a locked door. Debt, threats to family at home, confiscated documents, dependence on the trafficker for shelter and status, and the fear of police that traffickers cultivate deliberately. We set out what held the applicant in place.
Presence on account of trafficking
We document how the trafficking and its effects continue to bear on the applicant's life here, which is the clinical material behind the continued-presence question.
How they came to understand it
Many applicants did not recognise what was happening to them as trafficking until long afterwards, sometimes not until a lawyer named it. We record how that understanding developed, which explains accounts that changed over time.
What was done, and what it left
Post-traumatic symptoms, dissociation, shame, sleep, concentration, the capacity to trust and to work — recorded with validated, standardised instruments, together with a recommendation for the specialised treatment the trauma calls for.
What a T visa application has to establish
The application turns on a small number of findings. These are the ones an evaluation can reach, and the ones it cannot.
That the coercion was real, even where no one was locked in
Trafficking turns on force, fraud or coercion, and coercion is very often psychological: debt, threats to family at home, confiscated documents, a sustained climate of fear that makes leaving unthinkable rather than impossible. An evaluation can describe why someone with an unlocked door did not walk through it — which is the question adjudicators return to.
The exemption from cooperating with law enforcement
An applicant who cannot comply with reasonable requests for assistance because of physical or psychological trauma may be exempt from that requirement. This is the point where an evaluation can be decisive rather than supporting, and it needs to address capacity directly, not simply report symptoms.
Why the applicant did not identify themselves as a victim
Many do not recognise what happened to them as trafficking, or feel complicit in it. That is a documented feature of the experience, not a credibility problem.
Hardship on removal
Where the application rests on the harm return would cause, the clinical account covers the risk of re-trafficking, the loss of treatment, and the specific vulnerability that the trafficking itself created.
What the evaluation does not do
It does not establish that the conduct meets the statutory definition of a severe form of trafficking, and it does not assess conditions in the country of return.
PPA is a clinical practice, not a law firm. The standards described above are set out to show where a psychological evaluation fits within them. They are general information, not legal advice, and nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship. What a particular case requires is for the applicant’s attorney to determine.
How it works
Four steps. The applicant needs an hour of privacy and a phone or a laptop; we handle the rest.
A call, at no charge
Tell us about the case. We explain how the evaluation works, what it can and cannot do, and what it costs. No payment is taken at this stage.
Usually within a few hoursDocuments and scheduling
Counsel sends us the declaration, the filing deadline and anything in the record that matters. We schedule around safety as much as around work: if it is not safe to talk from where the applicant lives, say so and we will find a time that is.
Priority scheduling when a filing date requires itThe clinical interview
Virtual, in the applicant's own language. History, the trafficking itself, and standardised measures, paced so that the hardest material comes once the applicant is settled. If it becomes too much to finish in one sitting, we stop and take it up again another day — and that second session costs nothing.
One session, or two at no extra chargeThe report
Written, signed and sent to counsel as a PDF, ready to file. We answer questions on the findings afterwards at no extra charge.
One to two weeks from the interviewWhat the report contains
Written for an adjudicator, not for a clinician. Its length follows the case rather than a template.
- The applicant's relevant personal, family and medical history
- A chronological account of the recruitment, the trafficking and the escape
- The means of control: debt, threats, documents, isolation, dependence
- How the applicant came to understand themselves as a victim of trafficking
- Mental status examination and behavioural observations
- The standardised instruments administered, with scores and what they mean
- Diagnostic impressions, where a diagnosis is warranted
- How the symptoms affect daily functioning, work, sleep and parenting
- A tailored recommendation for the specialised therapy the trauma requires
- The evaluator's credentials, licence number and signature
We provide the written evaluation and nothing beyond it. We do not prepare declarations, and we do not appear as an expert witness or give testimony.
We are retained to examine, not to advocate. The report says what we find — which is the only reason it carries weight.
If the clinical picture does not support the claim, we will tell counsel before the report is written rather than after. An evaluation that overstates is worse than no evaluation at all.
Fees
$1,000Complete. No hourly billing.
The fee covers the intake call, the clinical interview, the instruments, the written report, and answering counsel's questions once it is delivered.
A second session costs nothing extra. With this material an applicant sometimes cannot get through the interview in one sitting. When that happens we stop and finish another day, and the fee does not move. Nobody is put in the position of choosing between stopping and paying more.
Payment plans run over up to six months, and the evaluation goes ahead while payments are running. We take payment only after we have spoken to you and agreed the case is one we can help with. If the case stops before the interview takes place, the fee is returned in full and any remaining payments are cancelled.
Where a filing date requires it, we prioritise scheduling.
Other evaluations we prepare
Questions we are asked
The applicant does not describe it as trafficking. Is that a problem?
It is common, and it is something the evaluation can address directly. People who were recruited by someone they trusted, or who were paid something, or who agreed to the work at the start, very often do not apply the word to themselves. We record how the applicant understood their situation at the time and how that understanding changed, which is usually more persuasive than an account that has been tidied up.
The account has changed since the first telling. Does that damage the case?
Not in itself, and it is better explained than ignored. Accounts of trafficking commonly expand as shame recedes and safety grows, and trauma affects the order and completeness of memory. Where that has happened we say so and explain it clinically rather than leaving the reader to draw their own conclusion.
Is the evaluation ever done in person?
No. Every evaluation we carry out is virtual, and that is deliberate rather than a compromise: it is what allows us to take a case in any state, including for applicants who live nowhere near a psychologist who speaks their language. The protocol, the standardised instruments and the written report are the same ones we would use in a consulting room.
Do you recommend treatment as part of the report?
Yes. The report sets out what specialised treatment the trauma calls for, which serves the case and is also simply useful to the applicant and to counsel.
Who carries out the evaluation?
A U.S. licensed Doctor of Psychology, in every case. You can read about the clinician who carries out the evaluations on our About page.
What if the case does not go ahead?
If the interview has not yet taken place, the fee is returned in full and any remaining payments are cancelled. Once the interview has happened the clinical work has been done, and the fee stands.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us a little about the case and we will call you to explain how the evaluation works and arrange the interview. Nothing is charged for that call.
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