R-1 Nonimmigrants

If you are a religious organization (i.e., a place of worship) or an organization affiliated with a religious denomination, you may be able to hire a foreign national as a religious worker. Before hiring that individual, your organization would need to file an R-1 petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). Vicki Anderson will discuss with you the requirements for a succesful R-1 petition, including:

1. Your organization is tax exempt as described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as it relates to religious organizations and that your organization has a currently valid determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service. In some cases, your organization may qualify as a subordinate under a group exemption.
2. The position being offered is as a minister (clergy) or is a religious vocation or a religious occupation.
3. Your prospective employee has been a member of the same denomination as your organization for at least the two years immediately preceding the filing of the R-1 petition.
4. 4. Your organization will compensate the religious worker. Although the regulations also state that a religious worker may be self-supporting, in reality, some compensation needs to be provided, which may be from another source.

An R-1 petition may be filed for a part-time position, so long as the religious worker will be working at least 20 hours per week.

Before an organization’s first R-1 petition is adjudicated, there will be an unannounced site visit by the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate. During that site visit, the Officer will want to speak with the petitioner (the person who signed the forms and letter of support on behalf of the organization), will take photographs, may want to speak with the beneficiary (the prospective employee), and may want to review documents.

If your prospective employee is already in the U.S. in valid nonimmigrant status, a change of status can be requested when the R-1 petition is filed with the USCIS. If your prospective employee lives outside the U.S., once the R-1 petition has been approved, your prospective employee will need to apply for an R-1 visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate before traveling to the U.S. to start employment.

Religious workers are permitted to be in R-1 status for a total of 5 years. An organization may request R-1 classification for no more than 30 months at a time. Thus, to take advantage of the entire 5-year period, usually 30 months is requested with the first R-1 petition and then a petition to extend R-1 status for the remaining 30 months is filed towards the end of the first 30-month period.

Whether you are a church, a mosque, a religious school, a religious retreat center, or some other type of religious organization, Vicki Anderson Immigration Law can assist you with your R-1 petition and the subsequent R-1 visa, if needed.