What qualifications does the foreign applicant need?

Eligible for the R-1 status are members of churches and denominations who have been members of that same church or denomination for at least two years. In addition, the applicants have to want to perform their tasks for the religious denomination or organization in a similar or related organization in the US.

There are four different groups of religious workers eligible for the R-1 visa:

- Ministers – people who are authorized by a recognized denomination to conduct religious worship and all the duties associated with it

- Professional religious workers – people who work in a religious profession that requires a bachelor’s degree or a higher academic degree (e.g. religious education teachers)

- People working in a religious occupation – people performing a traditional religious function, e.g. cantors, missionaries, and religious translators. Religious broadcasters, religious instructors and workers in religious hospitals also qualify for this category.

- People in a religious vocation – people who have a religious calling, evidenced, for example, by the taking of vows (e.g. nuns, monks, religious sisters)