How to Get a U Visa Law Enforcement Certification (Form I-918, Supplement B) in Pennsylvania in 2026

You were the victim of a crime in Pennsylvania, you talked to the police or the district attorney, and you have been told a U visa petition cannot be filed without a signed Form I-918, Supplement B. That is correct, and it is the hardest part of the case, because it is the one piece no applicant and no lawyer can produce alone. A law enforcement official has to sign it. As of September 2026 neither federal law nor Pennsylvania law requires any agency to do so, and every department in the Lehigh Valley handles these requests on its own terms. Here is what the certification is, who can sign one, how to ask, and what to do when the answer is no or nothing at all.

What the Supplement B Certification Is, and What It Does Not Do

Under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(i) the Secretary of Homeland Security must find four things: that you suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a victim of qualifying criminal activity, that you possess information about it, that you have been, are being, or are likely to be helpful to an official investigating or prosecuting it, and that the activity violated United States law or occurred here. The certification speaks to the third finding, and only the third: 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(1) says the petition "shall contain a certification" that the petitioner "has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful."

8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i) makes the signed form mandatory initial evidence and sets out what it must establish:

• Who signed. The head of the certifying agency, a supervisor the head specifically designated to issue these certifications, or a federal, state, or local judge.
• What the agency is. An agency responsible for the detection, investigation, prosecution, conviction, or sentencing of qualifying criminal activity.
• The facts. That you were the victim of qualifying criminal activity the agency is investigating or prosecuting, that you possess information about it, that you have been, are being, or are likely to be helpful, and where the activity occurred.

Here is what applicants most often misread. A signed Supplement B does not grant status, does not decide whether your abuse was substantial, and does not bind USCIS. Under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(1) USCIS has sole jurisdiction, and under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(4) it reviews everything de novo and "will determine, in its sole discretion, the evidentiary value" of the Supplement B itself. It is a gate, not a verdict. Whether the crime is even on the list is a separate question: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii) names 28 categories plus attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation and "any similar activity," while 8 CFR 214.14(a)(9) lists only 26, omitting stalking and fraud in foreign labor contracting. The statute controls, as our breakdown of the U visa qualifying crimes list explains.

Who Can Sign a Certification in Pennsylvania

Two definitions control. 8 CFR 214.14(a)(2) defines a certifying agency as "a Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency, prosecutor, judge, or other authority, that has responsibility for the investigation or prosecution of a qualifying crime or criminal activity," and adds that this "includes agencies that have criminal investigative jurisdiction in their respective areas of expertise, including, but not limited to, child protective services, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Department of Labor." 8 CFR 214.14(a)(3) defines the certifying official as the head of that agency, a supervisor the head specifically designated, or a federal, state, or local judge.

In a Pennsylvania case that means the municipal police department that took the report, the State Police if a trooper investigated, the county district attorney if charges were filed, a judge before whom the case was pending, a county children and youth agency acting as child protective services when the victim is a child, or a federal agency with investigative jurisdiction. That the Department of Labor and the EEOC appear in the regulation matters for workplace cases.

Designation causes more refused requests than anything else. A line detective's signature, offered in good faith, does not satisfy 8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i), and many Pennsylvania agencies have never designated anyone because nothing requires them to. So the first question in a good request is who the designated certifying official is. A nonprofit advocate, therapist, shelter, employer, or your own attorney cannot sign, though their records are often the best proof of substantial abuse under 8 CFR 214.14(b)(1).

The Six Month Rule and the Other Timing Traps

Read 8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i) literally: the Supplement B must be "signed by a certifying official within the six months immediately preceding the filing of Form I-918." The window runs backward from the date you file, not forward from the signature. A certification signed in March and a petition mailed in October fails the rule even though not one fact has changed. So the sequence is counterintuitive: finish the personal statement and the abuse evidence first, then ask for the signature, and if the package slips, ask for a fresh form.

Ongoing cooperation is the trap that catches good cases. 8 CFR 214.14(b)(3) requires helpfulness and that "since the initiation of cooperation" you have "not refused or failed to provide information and assistance reasonably requested." That is a continuing duty not to refuse reasonable requests, not a rule that the prosecution stay active; and nothing in the rules sets a deadline measured from the date of the crime. It can also cost a benefit you already hold, because USCIS may revoke an employment document and terminate deferred action granted on a bona fide determination if the Supplement B is withdrawn.

Pennsylvania Has No Certification Statute

Some states have written certification duties into law. Pennsylvania has not. House Bill 1281 of the 2025-2026 Regular Session, "An Act providing for duties of certifying officials and certifying agencies relating to the processing of certification form petitions," was introduced by Representative Joseph Hohenstein of House District 177, printed as Printer's Number 1453, and referred to the House Judiciary Committee on April 22, 2025. That referral is still the last recorded action as of September 2026: no committee meeting, no vote, no floor action. The bill is not law and changes nothing today.

The consequence is practical. The regulation makes the certification mandatory for you and optional for the agency. There is no Pennsylvania response deadline, no registry of designated officials, and no appeal from a refusal. Which is why a carefully built request matters: you are persuading, not invoking a right.

Were you the victim of a crime in Pennsylvania?

The certification is the one piece you cannot produce alone. We prepare the request, identify every agency that can sign it, and handle the follow up when a department goes quiet.

Talk to a U Visa Attorney

Or call (484) 763-4984

How to Ask: Building the Certification Request Packet

Treat the request as a short, self-proving file a supervisor can approve in ten minutes. Download the current Supplement B from the USCIS Form I-918 page the day you prepare it. USCIS lists an edition date of 01/20/25 for Form I-918 and says a new edition is coming while noting the 01/20/25 edition may still be used despite the printed expiration date; it publishes no separate edition date for Supplement B, so take the copy posted with the form.

• A cover letter addressed to a person, not a building. Name the agency head or designated supervisor if you can learn who that is. If not, address the records division or the detective assigned to the incident and ask in the first sentence who the designated certifying official is.
• The incident identifiers. Report number, date, location, the responding officer, and the criminal docket number if charges were filed.
• A one page summary keyed to 8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i), plus a blank current Supplement B, a Form G-28 if a lawyer is asking, a release, and a prepaid return envelope.

Write the helpfulness paragraph out of the agency's own records. You called 911 on a date. You gave a recorded statement. You identified the suspect in a photo array. You appeared at a preliminary hearing, or stayed available and were never asked to do more. Dates and documents beat adjectives. Include your signed statement describing the victimization, which 8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(iii) requires anyway. Do not ask the agency to opine on whether the abuse was substantial or whether you qualify: those are USCIS determinations, and asking invites a refusal on the ground that the office cannot assess immigration eligibility. Do not complete the agency's sections or alter the form.

When the Agency Says No, or Says Nothing

There is no appeal from a refusal to certify. Nothing obliges an agency to sign, to explain, or to answer, and Pennsylvania supplies no remedy. Silence is common, and it is not the end of the case.

What works, roughly in order: find the designated certifying official and ask again in writing, because a first request that died in a records queue was often never seen by anyone with authority. Then look for a second qualifying agency, since more than one can have had responsibility for the same criminal activity, and the police, the district attorney, and the judge are each potential certifiers under 8 CFR 214.14(a)(2). A judge is an express option under 8 CFR 214.14(a)(3)(ii), which matters when a prosecutor's office declines as a blanket practice. For a child victim, the county children and youth agency may certify.

What does not work is filing anyway. Without a signed Supplement B the petition lacks mandatory initial evidence under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i), and nothing substitutes for it. If no agency will certify, evaluate other relief instead: depending on who the perpetrator was, that may mean a VAWA self petition, which needs no law enforcement signature. Our overview of U visas for crime victims in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York compares the options.

After the Signature: Filing Form I-918 and the Bona Fide Determination

There is no filing fee. USCIS charges nothing for Form I-918 or for the initial Form I-765 associated with it, including the employment document that follows a bona fide determination and the one that follows waiting list placement, and nothing to renew either. A Pennsylvania petitioner files with the USCIS Chicago Lockbox: by mail, USCIS, Attn: 1367, P.O. Box 8075, Chicago, IL 60680-8075; by courier, USCIS, Attn: 1367 (Box 8075), 131 S. Dearborn St., 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60603-5517. The package also carries evidence of substantial physical or mental abuse, your personal statement, and Form I-192 if you are inadmissible.

The most important thing that happens after filing is the bona fide determination. 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(6) lets the Secretary "grant work authorization to any alien who has a pending, bona fide application" for U status, and USCIS published its process in the Policy Manual on June 14, 2021. A principal petition is bona fide when it was properly filed, includes a properly completed Supplement B, includes a personal statement describing the facts of the victimization, and USCIS has the results of biometrics based background and security checks; USCIS then assesses discretion, including national security and public safety. The resulting employment document comes with deferred action, is valid four years, and is renewable, and USCIS may revoke it if the certification is withdrawn. Not receiving one is not a denial: USCIS issues a request for evidence and reviews the case for waiting list placement under 8 CFR 214.14(d)(2). A bona fide determination also satisfies the prima facie standard ICE previously requested in specific circumstances. Two cautions: USCIS suspended its streamlined bona fide determination adjudication as of February 4, 2025, so timing should be checked case by case, and a family member gets no review until the principal has one.

Discretion at that stage sits inside a general policy. In PA-2026-01, issued May 8, 2026, USCIS reaffirmed deferred action as "an extraordinary use of prosecutorial discretion," considered only case by case and not granted to groups "unless specifically required by law or regulation." Waiting list deferred action should fall in that carve out, because 8 CFR 214.14(d)(2) directs that USCIS "will grant deferred action or parole to U-1 petitioners and qualifying family members while the U-1 petitioners are on the waiting list." Bona fide determination deferred action is discretionary, so a clean discretionary record does real work.

Then comes the wait. Congress capped U-1 grants at 10,000 a fiscal year in 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(2)(A) and 8 CFR 214.14(d)(1), and under 1184(p)(2)(B) the cap reaches only principals. USCIS has met it every year since fiscal 2010 and adjudicates in receipt date order, so a petition filed today waits years. Petitioners held back solely by the cap go on the waiting list under 8 CFR 214.14(d)(2) with deferred action or parole, and under (d)(3) no unlawful presence accrues meanwhile. Published cap figures move, so check the current notice rather than any article, including this one. The green card comes much later, under 8 U.S.C. 1255(m), after three years of continuous physical presence, and in PA-2025-25, issued November 3, 2025, USCIS adopted the reasoning of Sanchez v. Mayorkas, 141 S. Ct. 1809 (2021), and concluded that a grant of U status inside the United States is not an "admission" for INA 245(a), so a person who entered without inspection may adjust under 1255(m) instead. Our post on administrative closure for U visa and waiver applicants covers what the wait means in immigration court.

What This Means in the Lehigh Valley

We checked the published materials of the agencies our clients deal with most before writing this. As of September 2026 we found no U visa certification policy, no named certifying official, and no request form published by the Allentown, Bethlehem, or Easton police departments, the Lehigh County or Northampton County district attorneys, or Lehigh County Children and Youth. That is not unusual in Pennsylvania: do not hunt for a form that does not exist. Call, ask who handles Form I-918, Supplement B requests, and put the request in writing to that person. If the State Police investigated, the request goes to the troop holding the case, Troop M in this area. A Reading case runs through the Reading Police Department and the Berks County District Attorney. For families nervous about contact with police, start with our guide to rights during a police or ICE stop in Pennsylvania.

For clients already before the Philadelphia Immigration Court the path does not change. Under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(1)(i) a person in proceedings files Form I-918 directly with USCIS, and ICE counsel may agree, as a matter of discretion, to join a motion to terminate proceedings without prejudice while the petition is adjudicated. Under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(1)(ii) a person under a final order may also file, though that has no effect on ICE's authority to execute the order and a stay must be requested separately under 8 CFR 241.6(a). For many Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton families the turning point comes earlier than approval: a pending petition with a bona fide determination brings deferred action and work authorization while the backlog runs. Our humanitarian relief practice handles the certification request, the petition, and the follow up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the police refuse to sign my U visa certification in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Neither federal law nor Pennsylvania law requires a certifying agency to sign Form I-918, Supplement B, to explain a refusal, or to respond at all, and there is no appeal. House Bill 1281 would impose duties on certifying agencies, but it was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on April 22, 2025 and has had no recorded action since. Ask the designated certifying official again in writing, or ask a different qualifying agency such as the district attorney, a judge, or a county child protective services agency.

How long is a signed Form I-918, Supplement B, good for?

8 CFR 214.14(c)(2)(i) requires the certification to be signed by a certifying official within the six months immediately preceding the filing of Form I-918. The window runs backward from your filing date, so a certification signed more than six months before you file does not satisfy the rule even if nothing else has changed. Finish the rest of the petition first, then request the signature.

My case was closed years ago and no one was ever charged. Can I still get a certification?

Often yes. There is no deadline measured from the date of the crime, and 8 CFR 214.14(a)(5) defines investigation or prosecution to include detection and investigation as well as prosecution, conviction, and sentencing. A closed case, an old guilty plea, or an unsolved case can each support a certification. What matters is whether you were helpful, not whether the case is open.

Does a signed certification mean my U visa will be approved?

No. The certification addresses helpfulness only. USCIS has sole jurisdiction under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(1), reviews the evidence de novo under 8 CFR 214.14(c)(4), and decides in its sole discretion what evidentiary value the Supplement B carries. You must still prove substantial physical or mental abuse and that the activity was qualifying.

Can I work while my U visa petition waits behind the annual cap?

Often, but not automatically. Under 8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(6) USCIS may grant work authorization on a bona fide determination, which requires a properly filed petition, a properly completed Supplement B, a personal statement describing the victimization, completed biometrics based background checks, and a favorable discretionary assessment. That document comes with deferred action and is valid four years. Petitioners on the waiting list under 8 CFR 214.14(d)(2) also receive deferred action or parole.

Get Help With a U Visa Certification Request in Pennsylvania

The certification is where most U visa cases stall, and where a carefully built request changes outcomes. Lehigh Valley Immigration Law LLC prepares certification requests to police departments, district attorneys, county agencies, and judges across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, follows up when an agency goes quiet, and files the Form I-918 package. We offer a free bilingual consultation to review what happened, identify every agency that could certify, and tell you honestly whether a certification is realistic. Call (484) 763-4984 or contact us online. No outcome can be guaranteed in any immigration case, and no lawyer can compel an agency to sign, but how the request is prepared and who receives it are within your control.