| R-1 Religious Workers
R-1
religious worker nonimmigrant status is available to three
categories of religious workers:
- ministers of religion (members of the clergy);
- persons working in a professional capacity, either in
a religious vocation or occupation (must have a baccalaureate
degree or foreign equivalent – not equivalent experience
or a combination of education and experience); and
- other religious workers working in a religious occupation
or in a religious vocation ("an activity which relates to
a traditional religious function," including, but not limited
to, "liturgical workers, religious instructors, religious
counselors, cantors, catechists, workers in religious hospitals
or religious health care facilities, missionaries, religious
translators, or religious broadcasters.")
Each category requires that the individual applicant for the
two years immediately preceding the date of application for
admission:
- have been a member of a religious denomination having
a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United
States; and
- seek to enter the United States for a period not to exceed
five years.
No petition is required for the R-1 visa. Application is made
either directly to the U.S. consulate abroad or as a change
of status to the INS in the United States. An R nonimmigrant
may be admitted for an initial period of up to three years,
which may be extended for two years for a total of five consecutive
years. No extensions may be granted beyond the five-year period.
An alien who has spent five consecutive years in the United
States as an R nonimmigrant, may not be readmitted in the
R visa classification unless the alien has resided and been
physically present outside the United States for the immediate
prior year. As with the limitation on stay for H and L nonimmigrants,
time spent in the United States will not interrupt the one-year
period of residence abroad, but will not be counted toward
fulfillment of that requirement.
The spouse and unmarried minor children of an R-1 nonimmigrant
are entitled to R-2 classification, provided that the principal
alien will be employed and residing primarily in the United
States. R-2 nonimmigrants are not authorized to accept employment
in the United States without independent eligibility.
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