(UNITED STATES) — The Department of Justice published a proposed rule on June 16, 2026 that creates a formal process for T-visa holders to request certification letters that can speed their eligibility for permanent residence.

The proposal, published in the Federal Register as 91 FR 36156 and identified as FR Doc. 2026-12065, would standardize requests through Form 1123-1NEW. It targets a narrow but important step in immigration law: proving that a trafficking investigation or prosecution has ended so a survivor can seek a green card before the usual wait ends.

The change arrives alongside a broader USCIS policy shift that has already tightened the agency’s approach to adjustment of status. In a memorandum issued on May 21, 2026, USCIS described adjustment of status as a matter of discretion and administrative grace, not a routine path for applicants already in the United States.

T-visa holders, who are victims of human trafficking, usually must wait three years before applying for a green card. Federal law allows an earlier filing if the Attorney General certifies that the investigation or prosecution tied to the case is complete.

That certification process has often operated without a standard public mechanism. The DOJ proposal would replace that looser system with a defined request channel and a dedicated information collection process, giving applicants a formal way to seek the letter USCIS can use in an early adjustment filing.

The department’s notice describes the rule as a request system for DOJ certification letters for T visa holders. In practical terms, it creates a clearer record for survivors and their lawyers, and a more predictable administrative path for the government office handling the request.

USCIS framed its late May memo in much broader terms. The agency said in PM-602-0199, issued on May 21, 2026, that adjustment of status should be treated as discretionary relief rather than an ordinary alternative to consular processing abroad.

Zach Kahler, a USCIS spokesman, said on May 22, 2026: “We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly. From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances. This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.”

Kahler also said routine cases sent to consular processing would “.free up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities.” That places T-visa cases inside a declared agency priority even as the wider adjustment system faces more exacting review.

Applicants seeking permanent residence now face two tracks at once. The DOJ procedural rule offers a more orderly route to the certification letters needed for early eligibility, while the USCIS memo says all green card applicants must show they merit a favorable exercise of discretion.

That combination could shorten the wait for some trafficking survivors who have already assisted law enforcement. It also means an earlier filing does not remove the need to clear a stricter discretionary standard once the green card case reaches USCIS.

DHS reported approving more than 9,000 T-visas between 2021 and 2025. As of June 2026, final adjudication of a T-visa, Form I-914, averages 30 to 42 months, a timeline that helps explain why the early-adjustment certification letter carries such weight for survivors waiting to stabilize their status.

The new DOJ framework also reduces the need to piece together requests through multiple offices. By introducing a formal form and a dedicated billing code, the proposal replaces a process that often depended on private attorneys tracking down the right agency contacts and persuading different offices to confirm that a case had finished.

Lawyers and applicants who handle trafficking cases will likely read the rule in tandem with USCIS’s May guidance. A survivor who secures a DOJ certification letter can bypass the three-year waiting period, but the survivor still enters a system where adjustment of status no longer carries the presumption of routine approval inside the country.

USCIS’s “extraordinary circumstances” language has already altered the tone of adjustment filings across categories. In T-visa matters, that standard may invite more scrutiny during adjudication or more requests for evidence, even in cases the agency says fall within its priorities.

Those two government actions push in different directions. DOJ is formalizing one of the few mechanisms that can move a trafficking survivor faster toward permanent residence, while USCIS is narrowing the conditions under which applicants can complete that final step from inside the United States.

The official documents set out that shift in plain administrative terms. DOJ published its proposal in the Federal Register notice, [Requests for DOJ Certification Letters for T Visa Holders](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/16/2026-12065/agency-information-collection-activities-proposals-submissions-and-approvals-requests-for-doj); USCIS issued [PM-602-0199](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/PM-602-0199.pdf), titled “Adjustment of Status as a Matter of Discretion and Administrative Grace”; and the agency followed with a May 22, 2026 newsroom release, [USCIS Will Grant ‘Adjustment of Status’ Only in Extraordinary Circumstances](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-will-grant-adjustment-of-status-only-in-extraordinary-circumstances).

For trafficking survivors, the immediate effect is procedural but not minor. A formal request form for certification letters gives them a clearer shot at early eligibility, at the same moment a harder USCIS line makes every adjustment case more dependent on discretionary judgment inside the agency.