(日本語)

Religious workers may apply for an "R" visa which is normally good for 3 years.

Religious workers are defined as foreigners coming to the United States solely to work for a bona fide nonprofit religious organization or denomination.

You may qualify for this type of visa if the purpose of your trip is to work either as a minister of religion, or at the request of the organization or affiliated organization in a religious vocation or occupation, whether in a professional capacity or not. If you are unable to qualify for an R-1 visa, you may be eligible for a B-1 visa. Please see 9 FAM 41.31 note 9.1 for further details.

To qualify, you must show that:

• You are a member of a religious denomination. To be classified as a religious denomination, your organization must demonstrate that it has some form of ecclesiastical government, a recognized creed and form of worship, a formal code of doctrine and discipline, and regular religious services for congregations at established places of worship;
• you have been a member of the religious denomination for two years immediately preceding admission;
• the religious denomination is nonprofit. Nonprofit is defined as an organization exempt from taxation under section 503(c) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or one that would qualify for tax exemption were it to apply;
• you are coming to pursue a religious vocation or occupation. A religious vocation means a calling to religious life, evidenced by the demonstration of a lifelong commitment as practiced in the religious denomination. Examples of persons with religious vocations include nuns, monks, and religious brothers and sisters. A religious occupation means habitual engagement in an activity which relates to a traditional religious function. Examples include religious instructors, workers in religious hospitals or health care facilities, missionaries, religious translators and broadcasters. This group does not include janitors, maintenance workers, clerks, fund raisers or others engaged solely in solicitation of donations or similar occupations; and
• you have sufficient funds to support yourself without recourse to employment other than the religious work for which the visa is granted.

Filing the I-129 Petition with USCIS:

All applicants for R visas must file a petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the United States. This is done by filing a Form Form I-129 petition with the USCIS.

Please complete the I-129 and send it to one of the USCIS Regional Service Centers listed on the form.

What happens once the petition has been approved by USCIS?:

If an R-1 petition has been approved in your name, the employer/applicant is sent a Notice of Action, Form I-797, notification of petition approval. An I-797 approval notice is not a visa. You must obtain a visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to enter the U.S.

Visa Application Procedures: For information on the documents required to apply for a religious worker visa, please see our application checklist.

Please note that because of new security regulations, some applications may require an additional clearance and longer processing. Since the application process cannot be accelerated, please apply well in advance of your travel date, and do not purchase plane tickets until you have received your visa. Applicants should refrain from calling the Embassy merely to inquire about the status of their application. Visa applicants should never assume their application would be automatically approved.

Visas for family members: