II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3366 

To streamline the R–1 religious worker visa petition process. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 

Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To streamline the R–1 religious worker visa petition process. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. R–1 RELIGIOUS WORKER VISA PETITIONS. 

4 Section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

5 (8 U.S.C. 1184) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(s) VISAS OF NONIMMIGRANTS DESCRIBED IN SEC8 TION 101(a)(15)(R).— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), a consular officer may not issue a visa 

11 and the Secretary of Homeland Security may not 

12 grant status to any alien under section 


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1 101(a)(15)(R) until the Secretary has approved a 

2 petition filed on behalf of such alien. 

3 ‘‘(2) BLANKET PETITION AUTHORIZED.—Not4 withstanding paragraph (1), a petitioner who has 

5 satisfied the requirements of paragraph (3) may file 

6 a blanket petition, in lieu of individual petitions, on 

7 behalf of aliens who meet the eligibility requirements 

8 of paragraph (4). 

9 ‘‘(3) PETITIONER REQUIREMENTS.—A peti10 tioner satisfies the requirements of this paragraph 

11 if— 

12 ‘‘(A) the petitioner has an established pro13 gram for temporary, uncompensated missionary 

14 work in the United States that is part of a 

15 broader international missionary work program; 

16 ‘‘(B) participation in the missionary work 

17 described in subparagraph (A) is an established 

18 element of religious development in the peti19 tioner’s religious denomination; 

20 ‘‘(C) the petitioner provides formal train21 ing to its missionaries that is incidental to their 

22 missionary service; 

23 ‘‘(D) the petitioner has established a finan24 cial support system that reasonably ensures 


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1 that its missionaries will not become public 

2 charges during their missionary service; and 

3 ‘‘(E) at least 1,000 individual petitions for 

4 nonimmigrant religious workers previously filed 

5 by the petitioner under section 101(a)(15)(R) 

6 have been approved by the Secretary of Home7 land Security. 

8 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBILITY FOR INCLUSION IN BLANKET

9 PETITION.—An alien meets the requirements of this 

10 paragraph if the alien— 

11 ‘‘(A) is described in section 101(a)(15)(R); 

12 ‘‘(B) has been accepted into a missionary 

13 program described in paragraph (3)(A); and 

14 ‘‘(C) will perform missionary work at a lo15 cation listed in the blanket-petition approval no16 tice. 

17 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

19 Homeland Security may only include, in its ap20 proval of a blanket petition, locations of mis21 sionary service for which the Secretary has pre22 viously conducted a site inspection in connection 

23 with an individual petition for a religious work24 er. 


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1 ‘‘(B) DEFINED TERM.—In this paragraph, 

2 the term ‘location of missionary service’ means 

3 a specific worksite or a geographic area with 

4 specific boundaries. If the location of mis5 sionary service is a geographical area with spe6 cific boundaries, the location shall include a 

7 head office or facility that can be reasonably 

8 subject to a site inspection. 

9 ‘‘(6) LIST OF AUTHORIZED LOCATIONS OF MIS10 SIONARY SERVICE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) NOTICE.—When the Secretary of 

12 Homeland Security approves a blanket petition 

13 filed under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall 

14 issue a notice to the petitioner containing a list 

15 of the locations of missionary service authorized 

16 under the blanket petition. Such approval shall 

17 remain valid unless revoked by the Secretary of 

18 Homeland Security for good cause shown. 

19 ‘‘(B) AMENDMENT.—A petitioner under 

20 this subsection may file a petition at any time 

21 seeking to amend the list of locations of mis22 sionary service that were previously author23 ized.’’. 

Æ 


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