Emigration to the United States along a religious line

Фото: Depositphotos

The United States of America at the time of the Iron Curtain, which cut off the countries of the socialist camp from the rest of the world, seemed like an oasis to the Russian people in the desert, a paradise on earth and Eldorado at the same time. What ways did people not seek to go there forever, leaving behind family, friends, work. Now the issue of emigration to the United States is solved much easier, although there are plenty of pitfalls along the way.

One of the ways to settle in the US for a long time is to get a working religious visa such as R-1. This visa is non-immigrant, but in the future it can help its holder to obtain a residence permit.

Who pretend

A multiple-entry R-1 religious visa is issued at the invitation of a religious organization registered in the United States. The applicant enters the territory of the United States with a working purpose, depending on his status: to conduct church ceremonies, perform the duties of a clergyman or perform any work for the church in particular, and the denomination as a whole. You can apply for a religious visa:

• people who have received professional religious education;
• priests, rabbis, pastors (clerics);
• church workers who have no dignity or religious education - soloists of the church choir, missionaries, methodologists, religious translators, teachers in church schools, hospital staff under the patronage of the church;
• adherents of the church, for whom religion has become a vocation and way of life: monks, nuns, spiritual brothers and sisters.

R-1 visas cannot be expected by church attendants: handymen, leaflet distributors, cleaners, guards, clerks, charity collectors. It is important to understand that a religious visa is issued, so to speak, by vocation, and not by a formal place of work. The activity of the applicant should be directly related to the confession. For example, a church advertiser or religious leaflet distributor cannot be considered a contender for an R-1 visa.

Requirements for applicants

At the time of applying for a religious visa, the applicant must be a member of the religious community sponsoring it for at least two years, and the community itself must be recognized in the US as a non-profit religious organization and exempted from paying taxes. The following basic documents are required for obtaining an R-1 visa:

• original passport;
• photograph 5х5 cm;
• the number of the approved I-129 petition from the employer;
• receipt of payment of the consular fee;
• printed page of the accepted application form DS-160 (filled online at the embassy site).

May also require:

• certificate from the US Internal Revenue Service that the inviting organization is exempt from paying taxes;
• a document from the inviting organization in the USA, signed by an authorized representative, confirming its relationship with the organization or denomination abroad and the duration of the applicant’s membership in the organization, indicating the name and address of the inviting organization, the nature of the applicant’s activities and the remuneration agreement.

To obtain a visa for the husband / wife and children accompanying the applicant, it is necessary to submit the original documents confirming the family ties with him (birth certificate of children, marriage certificate).

Rights and obligations

The R-1 visa is issued for a period of five years and gives you the right to repeatedly enter and leave the country, but the first US visit should not exceed 30 months. Subsequently, the length of stay can be increased by another 30 months. After two years of validity of a religious visa, you can apply for Green Card. In this case, the applicant needs to prove that for two years he worked in a religious organization as a full-time hired employee or volunteer and plans to continue his activities further in the United States. You can also apply for a religious visa a second time, provided that after the expiration of the first one, the applicant lived outside the United States for at least a year.

Since an R-1 visa is a work visa, it has a lot in common with an H-1B visa. It gives the right to work at least 20 hours a week and the opportunity to change the employer. True, the new employer should still be a religious organization. In this case, the new employer must send an I-129 petition to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to obtain a work permit, and the previous employer must notify USCIS of the termination of cooperation with a foreign employee. You cannot work outside of the religious employing organization or its affiliates on an R-1 visa.

As for education, it alone cannot be a reason to request a religious visa. But its owners, already being in the USA, can begin or continue training. But only religious and only in parallel with the work.

Family members of the holder of a basic religious visa are issued visas of the R-2 category. According to it, they can be in the United States without the right to work. But children have an undeniable advantage: they can attend any US educational institutions — schools and colleges — without an additional F-1 student visa.

R-2 is an additional visa, so the period of its holders in the United States can not exceed the period of stay in the holder of the main document.

How to get

Get a religious visa in several stages. The first stage is the care of a potential employer. He must file an I-129 petition with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is better to do this at least 6 months before the trip itself, since the execution of all documents may take some time. If the petition has been approved, you can proceed to the next step - preparing for an interview at the consulate.

To apply for an interview at a consulate, do the following:

1. Fill out the application form DS-160 in electronic form and print it (the application must be filled out in English in Latin letters).

2. Pay the consular fee in the amount of 190 US dollars through VTB-24 Bank, by post of Russia or using a bank card Visa or MasterCard (if the visa is refused, the fee will not be refunded).

3. Call the consulate and sign up for an interview.

You should have an interview with you: the I-129 approved petition number or its printed version, the printed page of the accepted application form DS-160, the international passport, which is longer than the planned visit to America for 6 months, photo 5х5 see, receipt of consular payment collection and documents from the host religious organization (name and address, a certificate from the US tax service for tax exemptions, a contract of work, and other documents that can confirm your involvement in the organization’s activities animations). Applicants who have completed a professional religious educational institution should bring a certificate. The general rule for obtaining any kind of visas is: it is better to take more documents with you than less - anything can be useful. Therefore, any evidence of belonging to a confession or a particular religious organization will be only a plus.

To travel with children, you must add the birth certificate of the child, the Russian passports of both parents and the notarized permission of the second parent to leave the child in the USA to the standard package of documents.

At the interview, applicants for an R-1 visa do not need to prove that they are tightly linked to a place of residence outside the United States. It is important that the consul has a clear impression that returning to his home country after the expiry of the visa is a real intention. In general, there is no need to worry about the interview, because answering questions honestly is difficult to get confused. Most likely, the outcome of the situation will be known at the end of the meeting. With strict observance of the rules and norms of behavior it is likely that it will be positive!

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