Religious Workers
The R-1 classification applies to religious workers coming into the United States temporarily to work:
- As a minister of religion,
- In a professional in a religious vocation or occupation, or
- For a bona fide non-profit religious organization at the request of the organization, in a religious occupation relating to a traditional religious function.
The worker must have been a member of a religious denomination having a non-profit religious organization in the United States for at least the two years immediately prior to the application date. To be eligible, the U.S. petitioning organization must be a nonprofit religious organization granted (or eligible for) tax exempt status, and must demonstrate that it can and will provide for all of the R-1 beneficiary's financial and physical needs.
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides two categories of visas for religious workers, one for temporary or nonimmigrant "R" status and one for legal permanent resident or immigrant status in the United States.
Definitions of Religious Workers
Religious workers include ministers of religion who are authorized by a recognized denomination to conduct religious worship and perform other duties usually performed by members of the clergy such as administering the sacraments, or their equivalent. The term does not apply to lay preachers.
Religious vocation means a calling to religious life, evidenced by the demonstration of a lifelong commitment, such as taking of vows. Examples include nuns, monks, and religious brothers and sisters. Religious occupation means a habitual engagement in an activity which relates to a traditional religious function. Examples include liturgical workers, religious instructors or cantors, catechists, workers in religious hospitals, missionaries, religious translators, or religious broadcasters.
The activity of a lay-person who will be engaged in a religious occupation must relate to a traditional religious function. The activity must embody the tenets of the religion and have religious significance, relating primarily, if not exclusively, to matters of the spirit as they apply to the religion.
Background Requirements
A religious worker is a person who for the past two years has been a member of a religious denomination which has a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United States; and who has been carrying on the vocation, professional work, or other work continuously for the past two years; and seeks to enter the U.S. to work solely as a minister of that denomination; or in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or occupation for that organization; or in a religious vocation or occupation for the organization or its nonprofit affiliate.
