VAWA or the Violence Against Women Act offers protections and allows victims of domestic violence or spousal abuse to “self-petition” to obtain a green card without the cooperation of the U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative who is abusing them. VAWA applies to women, men, and children.
When you begin the process of filing for VAWA they are quite a few steps that you must follow. You must fill out a complete Form 1-360 along with evidence showing that you meet the VAWA requirements.
One of the key pieces of evidence you will need to submit along with your application (Form 1-360) is to write a personal declaration.
As you write your letter you want to be thinking about the other key pieces of evidence that you will need to gather to support your self-petition. Here are some of the documents that you will want to include;
Remember to make sure documents are time/date stamped and you keep all documents in a safe place.
As you begin writing your self-petition statement/ personal declaration letter, make sure your declaration is written like a story and is in your own words. You need to be able to explain exactly why you need to self-petition.
Before you start writing it would be helpful to sit down and gather your thoughts and write down some points and notes to help you as you write your letter so you don’t forget any important details or information.
The outline below will help you write your Personal Declaration Letter.
You should begin your letter with the following statement, “I swear under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.“
The first part of your letter should describe your relationship with the abuser and details explaining how you are eligible for VAWA.
This part of your letter should include the following details;
Then, you should detail the types of abuse you suffered and when and where the instance of the abuse occurred. It is best to include the worst of the abuse first. It is best to include as much detail as you can. In this second you can also refer to your physical documents, and also include dates, times, reports filed, photos, text, emails, you have, etc.
Some of the questions to answer are;
Finally, you want to include in your personal declaration letter evidence that showcases that you are indeed a good person. “Good moral character”, is one of the documents that you must include when filing for VAWA. A few examples of “good moral character” are included below.
You want to include the following statement at the end of your letter. “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.” Then sign and date your personal declaration letter.
Read more about VAWA;
