At a time of tightening immigration restrictions, the Department of Homeland Security is attempting to make it easier for visa-holding religious workers to serve their U.S. congregations with less disruption.
DHS announced on Wednesday a regulatory change aimed at reducing visa wait times abroad for the foreign nationals many U.S. religious communities depend on to serve as pastors, priests, nuns, imams and rabbis. These religious workers face a yearslong backlog to obtain legal permanent U.S. residency, but congregations can bring them into the country on temporary visas called R-1.
