Senate OKs Extension of Visa Programs For Religious Workers, Medical Students
The House passed H.R. 1127 on March 4. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who introduced the bill Feb. 23, told lawmakers March 3 that the short extension would allow for the programs to be examined more by Congress before considering a longer extension. The Non-Minister Religious Worker Visa Program, created by the Immigration Act of 1990, allows religious organizations in the United States to sponsor nonminister religious workers from abroad, such as nuns, religious brothers, and lay missionaries.
The program provides for up to 5,000 special immigrant visas per year that religious organizations can use to sponsor foreign nationals to perform religious service in the United States. Once granted, this type of visa allows religious workers to immigrate permanently to the United States and eventually become U.S. citizens.
Specifically, applicants must have been a member of a religious denomination having a bona fide, nonprofit, religious organization in the United States; have been carrying on religious work continuously, either abroad or in the United States, for at least two years immediately prior to the filing of the application; and enter the United States solely for the purpose of working in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or occupation for a religious organization at that organization's request, or working in a religious vocation or occupation for a religious organization or an affiliated organization.
The House also approved the extension for a program relating to waiver of the foreign country residence requirement with respect to international medical graduates. The bill would waive the requirement that foreign citizens using the J-1 visa reside abroad for two years after concluding their medical residencies.