U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | April 19, 2007U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is proposing to amend existing regulations pertaining to special immigrant and nonimmigrant religious worker visa classifications. The proposed rule focuses on how the agency can best ensure the integrity of the religious worker program by eliminating opportunities for fraud in the program while, at the same time, streamlining the process for legitimate petitioners.

BACKGROUND

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 1999 incidents of fraud in the religious worker program. The report found that fraud often involved false statements by petitioners about the length of time an applicant was a member of a religious organization, their qualifying work experience, and the position being filled. The report also noted problems with the applicants making false statements about their individual qualifications and plans while in the United States.

USCIS has since continued to assess the potential for fraud in the religious worker program. The agency’s Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) found a 33 per cent rate of fraud in the program; their assessment also indicated patterns of potential fraud and weaknesses that created vulnerabilities for fraud to occur. Together with GAO’s earlier report, the FDNS assessment shows a justifiable and compelling need to address the issue. USCIS’ proposal, if implemented, will decrease the opportunity for fraud in the religious worker program.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE REGULATIONS

• Petitioning Requirements

• USCIS proposes to require the filing of a petition in every instance (the requirement already exists for special immigrants and for organizations seeking to extend the stay or adjust status for nonimmigrant religious workers already in the U.S.).

• Currently, non-immigrants outside of the U.S. may request a religious worker visa at a consular post or at the port-of-entry without a review of the legitimacy of the petitioner and the job offer.

• The employing U.S. organization must complete and submit the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) or Petition for a Special Immigrant (Form I-360).

• This proposed requirement will allow USCIS to verify the legitimacy of the petitioner and the job offer prior to the issuance of a visa or admission to the U.S.

• Petitioning employers are required to submit an Attestation (included in the Forms I-129 and I-360) verifying the worker’s qualifications, the nature of the job offered, and the legitimacy of the organization.

• On-site Inspections

• Notifies petitioners that USCIS may conduct on-site inspections of the organization seeking to employ either a nonimmigrant or a special immigrant religious worker.

• Inspections are intended to increase deterrence and detection of fraudulent petitions and to increase the ability of the agency to monitor religious workers and ensure their lawful status in the U.S. is maintained.

• Evidentiary Requirements for Petitioning Organizations

• Proposal requires that petitioning organizations submit a currently valid determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service showing that it is exempt from taxation as it relates to religious organizations.

• Petitioning organizations that are not classified as “religious organizations” by the Internal Revenue Service may establish that they are affiliated with the religious denomination by completing the Religious Denomination Certification in the revised Forms I-129 and I-360.

• Nonimmigrant Religious Worker Classification

• USCIS is proposing to amend the standard initial period of stay for nonimmigrant religious workers from three years to one. The revision gives the agency the opportunity to review whether the terms of the R-1 visa have been met. (Requests for two potential extensions of two years each will be considered).

• Every petition for an R-1 classification must be initiated by a prospective or existing employer through the filing of a Form I-129 with USCIS. The beneficiary (the religious worker) will no longer be able to obtain an R-1 visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad or at a port-of-entry without prior approval of the Form I-129 by USCIS.

• Special Immigrant Religious Workers

• USCIS is expanding its interpretation of prior work experience to include work that is not in the exact same position as the job offered.

• The proposal allows for a short break in the continuity of the required two-year prior experience when the beneficiary was engaged in further religious training or on a sabbatical.

• New Definitions and Proposed Changes to Existing Definitions

• To streamline the regulations, the proposal focuses on the distinctions between workers in a Religious Vocation and workers in a Religious Occupation, whether in a professional capacity or not.

• A definition of Denominational Membership is added to clarify how a petitioner can establish that the beneficiary is a member in the same religious denomination as the U.S. employer seeking to employ him or her.

• Expands the definition of Religious Occupation to focus on duties that “primarily, directly, and substantially relates to the religious beliefs or creed of the denomination.” Such a change distinguishes between committed religious work and non-qualifying work that, while may be incident to religious duties, cannot by itself warrant classification in the religious worker category.

• A clear distinction is made between Bona Fide Nonprofit Religious Organizations and Bona Fide Organizations which are Affiliated with the Religious Denomination to account for the two types of petitioners who may seek to employ religious workers.

• Ministers are defined as individuals duly authorized by a religious denomination to conduct religious worship and other duties performed by clergy. The proposal adds that the minister must be “fully trained according to the denomination’s standards.”

• The term Religious Denomination applies to a religious group or community of believers governed or administered under some form of ecclesiastical government.

• The proposal amends the definition of Religious Vocation as one referring to a formal lifetime commitment to a religious way of life.

PUBLIC COMMENT

• To comment on the proposed rule, please submit written comments on or before June 25, 2007 by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

• Mail:

Director, Regulatory Management Division
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department of Homeland Security
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20529.

Please reference DHS Docket No. USCIS-2005-0030 in your correspondence. This address can be used for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions.

• Hand Delivery/Courier:

Regulatory Management Division
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department of Homeland Security
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20529

Contact Phone: (202) 272-8377

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL NOTICE

Concerned at the large number of people giving false information to obtain visas for the United States, its embassy in India has decided on tough steps to check visa fraud, including taking “fingerprints of all 10 digits”.

“The US mission is alarmed by the rush of clearly unqualified visa applicants in recent weeks. A significant number of applicants are relying on incorrect information and are using false documents to support their applications,” US Consul General Peter Kaestner told reporters here on Wednesday.

He said it had decided on touch steps to curb visa fraud and while biometric samples and electronic images of a person’s face were already being taken besides two fingerprints, “fingerprints of all 10 digits will now be taken to make it impossible for anybody to cheat to get a visa”.

Replying to a question on the recent case of alleged involvement of some MPs in human trafficking, Kaestner said they had strict procedures in place to detect such fraud.

“Only a few months back, we had this gentleman who pretended to be from the Congress party and gave us false documents to obtain a visa but he was caught,” he said.

He said from October 2005 to September 2006, 4.6 lakh visa applications had been processed while between October 2006 and September 2007, they were expecting the figure to jump to 7 lakh.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. Senate approved an immigration bill Thursday that would toughen security at the Mexican border and grant many illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship.

The action set the stage for another battle as lawmakers try to mesh it with the stricter bill passed by the House in December.

The House version solely focused on border security and enforcement immigration law and did not contain any legalization provisions, which many conservatives, especially in the lower chamber, decry as “amnesty.”

The House bill also contains a controversial provision that would make illegal immigration a felony.

The Senate legislation has a temporary-worker program, which President Bush supports but is not part of the bill the House approved.

The Senate voted Wednesday to cut off debate on its measure, setting the stage for Thursday’s vote.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said that “the most contentious part” of the bill is handling the millions of immigrants now in the country.

Under the Senate bill, those who have been here two to five years would enter a temporary-worker program, while those here longer would be eligible for legal status or citizenship after an 11-year probationary period.

“I do support that provision as written in the bill,” Frist said about allowing illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said, “I think it’s really the only viable solution that you can arrive at, given that there’s 11 million or 12 million people who are already here illegally.

“You can’t send them back. The status quo is not acceptable, so you have to find a way to, I think, not forgive them and not say, ‘Look, you can just be citizens,’ but give them a very tough path to citizenship,” McCain told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” (Watch McCain explain why he’s proud of the immigration bill — 4:55)

Under the Senate legislation, Illegal immigrants in the United States less than two years would be sent to their home countries.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, said that while he sees the bill easily clearing the Senate, reconciling it with the House version will require tough negotiation and compromise.

“I think one of the requirements is that it has to be a comprehensive approach, that you’ve got to deal with the 11 million that are here illegally, you have to deal with the future flow, and you have to secure the border,” Brownback said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”

“If we do one, the rest of it isn’t going to work, and you’re going to be back in the same soup in a few years,” he said.

McCain said he was optimistic the plans can be reconciled.

“We’re not drawing any lines in the sand. And I think that already we are hearing at least some proposals from the House side that deserve consideration and certainly show some movement on their part,” he said on ABC.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, noted the gulf between the two versions of the bill.

“We have two very separate and distinct directions that we’re going [in] when it comes to controlling our borders, enforcing our laws, where the House was, where the Senate has provisions that go far beyond that. And I don’t underestimate the difficulty in the House and Senate trying to come together in an agreement,” Boehner told a news conference Thursday.

“But I’m hopeful that we will come to a resolution and pass a bill.”

Boehner stressed the importance of the border issue to the House. “You can’t control the problem without first strengthening the borders and beginning to enforce the laws,” he said.

Frist had once supported the House version of the bill, which would send all illegal immigrants to their countries.

But the likely 2008 Republican presidential candidate said he has changed his position because “a mature understanding” over the handling of illegal immigrants has emerged in the Senate after two weeks of debate.

“Many have been assimilated into our society; 40 percent have been here longer than 10 years, have had kids go to high school and college and now have jobs,” Frist said. “And therefore, we put together a compromise.”

With Senate passage inevitable, a group of six Republicans held a news conference Thursday to stress their opposition to the bill — and to ask that the House moderate its stance in conference committee.

“This legislation, I think, is well outside of what I would consider responsible reform. It’s misfocused. It puts the cart before the horse,” said Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, speaking with Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, George Allen of Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and David Vitter of Louisiana.

Santorum said any final bill must include provisions for border security, employer verification of employees’ immigration status and a temporary-worker program that fills needs in this country.

As the discussion continued in the U.S. capital, Mexican President Vicente Fox, on whose border a 370-mile fence would stand, was on a swing through three American Western states.

“Mexico believes that it will take more than just enforcement, building walls, to really solve the challenge posed by the migration phenomenon,” Fox said Wednesday in Seattle, Washington, according to The Associated Press.