Immigration QA

Today the USCIS published a resource link for the Religious Worker Visa category. https://www.uscis.gov/R1-resources While this particular today's posting did not indicate any new changes to current policy, it did consolidate its rules in this particular visa category, and highlighted one of the most significant changes to the religious worker visa that took place earlier in 2026. USCIS has now highlighted the change in its new R-1 Religious Worker Resources page. The most important development is that, effective January 16, 2026, qualifying R-1 religious workers who reach the five-year maximum period of stay are no longer required to spend one year outside the United States before becoming eligible for another period of R-1 status. For foreign-born priests, ministers, and other religious workers—and for the churches, dioceses, religious orders, temples, mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and other religious organizations that employ them—this can be an important change. What ...

I RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING QUESTION TODAY:   My husband and father's cases have been in Administrative processing for over 9 months now. The Embassy is just delaying the process! ANSWER:   In general, there’s not much a lawyer can legally do to "unstuck" an application at an Embassy. An attorney can submit a letter, but Embassies are so bureaucratic it is doubtful the letter will reach the right person. An attorney can, however, sue the Department of State in U.S. federal court to force a decision one way or another, but this will cost thousands of dollars and the decision may go against you. One realistic course of action should be to contact your own Congressperson to write a letter to shake loose a decision. You should know, however, that if the application was problematic is some way, sometimes no answer is a good answer. Meaning, at least the application is not yet denied. To help determine your chances, a consultation with an attorney may help. But it will be essentia...