Hi folks,

as one of several options, we are considering a move to the USA. My husband is a pastor in the UK and has been for the past four years. I have looked on the American Embassy in London site and see that that it would in theory be possible for us to apply for an immigrant visa as "U.S. visa law provides for special immigrant visa status for ministers of religion"


As far as I can see we fulfill all the other criteria. Nothing is set in stone and we haven't even started looking, so my question really is how long is the entire process from completing form I-360, with the office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, to getting on a plane to leave likely to take.

I would really appreciate your thoughts,especially from anyone who has gone down this route. if it's going to take the best part of a year or more then we had better get a shift on!

Many thanks in advance

You would be looking at the R-1 visa
times can vary tremendously depending on you and the intending employer
getting all the paperwork together

And because of the high number of fraudulent R-1 applications
they may take longer to process

You wont be completeing form I-360 for a long time ..thats for adjusting status when here .. DS156 is your starter

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1272.html

One question Ray. Do you not have to have a sponsor in the US in order to do this?

Not as such

Rules are

The applicant must be a member of a religious denomination having a bona fide nonprofit religious organization in the U.S.;

The religious denomination and its affiliate, if applicable, are exempt from taxation, or the religious denomination qualifies for tax- exempt status;

The applicant has been a member of the denomination for two years immediately preceding admission;

The applicant is entering the United States solely to carry on the vocation of a minister of that denomination, or, at the request of the organization, the applicant is entering the United States to work in a religious vocation or occupation for the denomination or for an organization affiliated with the denomination, whether in a professional capacity or not; and

The applicant has resided and been physically present outside the United States for the immediate prior year if he or she has previously spent five years in this classification.
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More details on the site I gave

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Being a member of the Church of the Divine Chicken ...
may well have its difficulties

Does it work for non-religious non-profits too? Is there a visa for that, if you've worked for a US non-profit overseas?

Thats sound more like a H1

Thanks Ray for your prompt reply

It's no simple task I can see, they like their forms that's for sure! I have a couple of more question for you if you could help!

1. on the USCIS site here it seems to suggest that we *might* be also be eligible to apply for the EB-4 Special Immigrants visa - do you think that's correct?

2. on the US Embassy UK site it states here that you can apply for an immigrant visahere or as Ray suggests an R-1 Visa as stated here
What's the difference between the two?

3. I saw the October 2007 Visa update which lists the EB-4 visa as current, what does that mean?

As I look at the criteria for both I'm not sure that we meet the criteria for the R1 Visa as it states :
"Religious ministers or workers may qualify for the religious worker classification R visa if, for the two years immediately preceding the time of application, they have been a member of a religious denomination which has a bona fide nonprofit religious organization in the United States."

we would be applying to a different denomination, so I guess that excludes us? The criteria for the other visa seems to be slightly different and assuming we had a church sponsor us which it requires, it looks like it might be possible?

It's all very confusing, for example we are in a presbyterian denomination but not *exactly* the same one as the one we would be looking at in the states - where could I find out about the specifics of this?

aplogies if I seem like a doofus, it's 5pm and the kids are starting to go nuts as it's too near dinner time!

Thanks again

You're mixing apples and oranges. There *are* presbyterian churches in the US (hey... there's even one in the town where I live)... so being a presbyterian pastor seems like a match! Don't confuse a branch of the denomination as being equal to an entirely different denomination.

Down in my neck of the woods, there are Free Will Baptists, Freewill Baptists (not the same... go figure!), Southern Baptists, Regular Baptists, Old Regular Baptists (also not the same), Primitive Baptists, United Baptists, Separate Baptists... well, the list goes on. But, they are *all* Baptist churches... regardless of the specific branch of the denomination.

Ian

Thanks Ian,

I just wasn't sure how picky they would be! I'm pretty sure it can be done as we know of others who have left the UK to take up pastor type jobs in the USA, and the denominations wouldn't be an *exact* match.

We don't know of anyone who has done it recently, certainly not post 9/11, but I'm sure the same rules still apply even if it does take a bit longer

Good luck. I know a few South Africans who got their GC's that way

Primitive Baptists?

I shudder to think...

Snake handlers?

Hey! At least they're a big step up from the Redneck Motherf***er Baptists we get around these parts!

Bless you my Son.

Baptists are not snake handlers... honest! However, snake handlers are a recognized religious sect in West Virginia (where I currently work, but not live)! Since I've lived in the US, there have been only 2 or 3... umm, incidents involving snakes.

Ian - a heathen living in the buckle of the Bible belt