US Scraps One-Year Waiting Period for Religious Worker Visas
The Trump administration is making a significant exception to its broader visa crackdown. It announced a new rule that removes a key restriction for religious workers. Priests, pastors, nuns, imams, and other religious figures will no longer face a mandatory one-year waiting period abroad when seeking a new temporary visa.
What Was the Old R-1 Visa Rule?
The R-1 visa is a non-immigrant category for religious professionals. It allows pastors, priests, rabbis, nuns, and imams to work for U.S.-based religious organizations. These workers could stay in the United States for up to five years under this visa.
Previously, when their five-year visa expired, they had to leave the country. The old rule required them to wait outside the United States for at least one full year. Only after that waiting period could they apply for a new R-1 visa to return.
What Does the New Rule Change?
The new regulation eliminates that one-year foreign residency requirement entirely. Religious workers must still depart the United States when their current visa expires after five years. However, they can now seek to re-enter immediately. There is no minimum waiting period before they can apply for readmission in R-1 status.
The Department of Homeland Security officially stated the change. "While R-1 religious workers are still required to depart the U.S., the rule establishes that there is no longer a minimum period of time they must reside and be physically present outside the U.S. before they seek readmission in R-1 status," the department said.
Why Did the Administration Make This Change?
The administration cited practical difficulties caused by long delays in the immigrant visa system. The demand for visas in the EB-4 category, which includes religious workers, has exceeded supply for years. Changes by the State Department in 2023 made wait times even longer for applicants from certain countries.
These extensive delays forced many religious workers to exhaust their maximum five-year stay on R-1 visas. The one-year waiting period then created further hardship for U.S. religious organizations.
"By eliminating the one-year foreign residency requirement, USCIS is reducing the time religious organizations are left without their trusted clergy and non-ministerial religious workers," the Department of Homeland Security explained. The move aims to provide relief to congregations that rely on these international workers.
This policy shift stands in contrast to the administration's overall stricter stance on various other visa categories. It specifically eases the path for religious figures serving American communities.
