Fraud in Religious Worker Cases

Apart from the usual avenues for immigration to the United States such as through family sponsorships or through the employment-based third preference category for skilled and unskilled workers, many Filipinos fall under the religious worker classification.

Unfortunately, as part of the initial effort to combat fraud relating to immigration benefits, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has focused on the religious worker category to weed out fraudulent applications and petitions.

According to the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS), there are many incidences of fraud in the I-360 special immigrant / religious worker category. Based on a recent 6-month review of I-360 religious worker cases from the four national USCIS service centers, over 30 percent of the 220 cases were fraudulent. Fraud is defined as a “willful misrepresentation or falsification of a material fact.”

Among the examples of fraudulent religious worker cases cited are: (a) the petitioner is a “paper church” and appears to be a financial organization with no religious functions; (b) facility is non-existent; (c) signatory is not connected to the petitioner organization; (d) petitioner was unaware of the petition / beneficiary; (e) beneficiary misrepresented his / her qualifications; and (f) petitioner misrepresented ability to pay the offered salary, among others.

The USCIS is currently implementing the so-called Benefit Fraud Assessment (BFA) which is basically a random administrative inquiry into the “integrity” of nonimmigrant and immigrant applications / petitions in general.

The result of the assessment will become the basis for future revisions on existing rules to eliminate fraud. The first phase of the process is focused on religious worker cases in light of the fact that it is considered by the USCIS as having the “highest fraud rate.”

The assessment includes a verification of the qualifications of the beneficiary and the legitimacy of the petitioner. The USCIS will therefore look into the education and experiences of the beneficiary, as well as the existence and viability of the petitioner. It will also check the need for the sponsored employee.

Cases included in the assessment will be subjected to field inquiries. This involves investigating and obtaining information that cannot be acquired from a review of the file or from an interview. In other words, the USCIS will go beyond what has been submitted to it to verify the facts asserted in the petition or application. As a rule, facts that are not verifiable against other information will be subjected to a field inquiry.

The USCIS is working closely with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office to combat fraud relating to immigration benefits. Fraud cases referred to the ICE will be further investigated or possibly criminally prosecuted, if not subjected to removal proceedings. Fraud cases involving national security will also be referred to the ICE.

In cases were the ICE decides not to pursue a criminal investigation, revocation or denial proceedings may be initiated upon the issuance of a Fraud Verification Memorandum for Adjudications from the FDNS.

To prevent future incidents of fraud, incoming petitions and applications will be checked against the FDNS databank that contains BFA cases. The FDNS databank will also enable concerned government agencies to track BFA cases.