R1 Religious Workers – Ordained Pastors

R1 Religious Work Visa - Ministers of Religion

 If you are an ordained minister of religion, that is to say, “an individual duly authorized by a recognized religious denomination to conduct worship and to perform other duties usually performed by authorized members of the clergy of that religion”, then you may qualify for the R1 Visa.  Please note that the term ‘minister’ does not include lay preachers.  Surprisingly, deacons may be recognized as ministers of religion if they have been so ordained and are duly authorized to lead congregations and perform other duties and responsibilities normally carried out by an ordained minister.

Requirements of the Church

The 1st Amendment of the US Constitution provides “Congress shall make no law representing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  This means that US Immigration has to be very careful as to what rules and regulations they can put in place that could be construde in any way as interferring with the right of church members to bring in from outside the US their own ministers of religion, to lead their flock, if you will.

R1 Visas for Pastors, Religious Professionals and Other religious Workers

Congress has therefore been very careful to frame Immigration laws to facilitate the movement of religious workers by setting out clear definitions as to the requirements for entry.

The Church must actually be a religous denomination defined as “a religious group or community of believers having some form of ecclesiastical government, a creed or statement of faith, some form of worship, a formal or informal code of doctrine and discipline, religious services and ceremonies, established places of religious worship, and religious congregations, or comparable indicia of a bona fide religious denomination”. As you can see the definition is so broad so as to include, not exclude, almost every conceivable collective body of people gathering together under a common doctrine. The definition does not frame the word ‘worship’ as relating to any ‘divine’ subject. For Immigration purposes the Church should be a bona fide non-profit organization as certified by the Inland Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3) of the IR Code of 1986. Non-profit churches are tax exempt.

The alien will need to establish that they have been a member of the denomination for at least two years.

Ministers and Pastors from overseas can make a tremendous cultural difference to US communities

Over recent years there has been a lot of aliens who have not honored the spirit (pardon the pun) of the R1 Religious Worker visa. Remember, R1 workers must be coming to the US to solely work in service to their congregation. There have been many publicised stories where “ministers” have been found in the US having full-time jobs outside of the church and so forth. There was even one story where the minister was working eighty hours per week as a cab driver. As a result of these abuses USCIS has really cracked down on their vetting procedures. The degree of documentation now required to satisfy USCIS to grant this visa has become borderline burdensome.

If your church is interested in supporting a religious worker to join your church, then please let us know so we can make sure the case is expertly prepared. When we take on any of these types of cases we also take a close look at the family members coming in also. It is very important indeed to consider the ages of all the children to make sure that those coming up to 18 or even 21 years have an immigration strategy in place that will not leave them stranded or frustrated. Minors of R1 workers cannot obtain work permits unless they qualify for these independently and this is not easy to do. So we take a very wholistic approach to these cases to make sure everyone thrives in their new life in the US.  

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Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
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Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Everyday the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram provides a comprehensive range of US Immigration expertise. We also provide a free consultation for our prospective clients.

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