Educational Resource
MRS: The Special Immigrant Religious Worker Visa Program (2011)
USCCB Migration and Refugee Services / Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs Backgrounder, January 2011
The Special Immigrant Religious Worker Visa Program
The religious worker visa program allows U.S. religious denominations to fill critical religious worker positions for which there are no qualified candidates in the U.S. with qualified religious workers from abroad. The program provides for two types of visas: (1) the Special Immigrant Visa, which allows qualified religious workers to immigrate to the U.S. permanently and later become citizens if they so choose and meet the qualifications; and (2) the Nonimmigrant Visa, which allows qualified religious workers to enter temporarily and perform services in the U.S. for a proscribed period.
Religious Worker Visas (both the Special Immigrant Visa and the Non-immigrant Visa) may be granted to both ministers and non-minister religious workers. Ministers covered by the program are those who are authorized by a recognized religious denomination to conduct religious worship and perform other duties usually performed by members of the clergy, such as administering the sacraments or their equivalent.