Delay in Religious Visa Processing

There has been a substantial delay in the processing of religious visa applications because of a recent United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) initiative to carefully check the legitimacy of the petitioner and the job offer.

Religious visas may either be temporary or permanent. These visas were created by the Immigration Act of 1990. Many Filipino priests and religious workers have immigrated through this visa route.

The heightened scrutiny of these applications is due to a finding by the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security that as many as 33 percent are fraudulent and that there are patterns of potential fraud that created vulnerabilities for more fraud.

As part of its review, the USCIS visits all the churches and religious groups that file the applications or petitions. As of August 1, 2007, there were 4,625 applications and petitions that were awaiting visits. No later figure has been released but it is believed that the number has doubled.

The site visits are being conducted even as the proposed changes to the religious visa regulation released last April have not been finalized. The period to comment on the proposal was supposed to end last June 25. However, on November 1, the USCIS announced that it was reopening the public comment period until November 16, 2007.

The on-site inspections are included in the proposed changes. The proposal will require the submission of an attestation verifying the worker’s qualifications, the nature of the job offered and the legitimacy of the organization. It will also reduce the initial period of admission for temporary visas from three years to one year.

The proposed rule will also require petitioning organizations to submit a currently valid determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service showing that it is exempt from taxation as it relates to religious organizations. If the petitioner is not classified as a religious organization by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it may show proof of affiliation with the religious denomination by completing the Religious Denomination Certification in the revised application forms.

The changes in the regulation have been proposed “to ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by eliminating opportunities for fraud” and at the same time, streamline the process for legitimate petitions.

There have been news reports of widespread fraud. Last year, 33 Pakistanis were arrested for obtaining religious worker visas although they had no religious training or background and were working in non-religious jobs.

An employee of a Brooklyn mosque was also convicted in 2004 for filing fraudulent religious visa applications on behalf of some 200 undocumented aliens who were not religious workers.

Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat member of the House’s Homeland Security Committee, warned against making it more difficult for legitimate religious workers to get visas. He said that some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism rely on foreign religious workers for their religious practices in the US.

“I urge USCIS to encourage and thoroughly consider more feedback from religious organizations as it formulates changes to improve the R-1 visa rules,” he said.