EB-4 visas for Special Immigrant Religious Workers and R-1 visas are similar in key aspects: the beneficiaries of both categories are religious workers, and the application requirements overlap to some extent. The notable difference between the two is that an R-1 grants beneficiaries non-immigrant temporary work visas, while an EB-4 grants beneficiaries permanent resident status based on their religious work.
Also, other types of special immigrants fall into this category.
Who qualifies as a special immigrant?
Special immigrant visas – which lead to legal status as a permanent resident and green cards upon arrival in the U.S. – are available for:
• clergy and other professionals, vocational workers with religious non-profit organizations;
• foreign workers who have served the United States government abroad or the American Institute in Taiwan faithfully for at least 15 years;
• Panama Canal Treaty officials, who have served faithfully for at least one year, or whose safety has been threatened by the ratification of the treaty after at least five years of faithful service, in addition to Panamanian citizens who have retired with honor, after at least 15 years of employment in the U.S. Government;
• foreign medical graduates, who entered the United States as non-immigrants, before January 10, 1978, and have remained continuously present in the United States in the practice or study of Medicine, since their entry (almost no one else falls into this category);
• Afghans, who have worked for or on behalf of the U.S. Government in Afghanistan and, as a result, are threatened.
• Iraqi citizens, who have performed faithful service working for or on behalf of the U.S. Government in Iraq and who have suffered a severe threat as a result;
• retired officers or employees of specific international organizations that have lived in the USA for a certain period of time;
• foreign citizens who have been declared dependent on U.S. juvenile courts for being neglected, abused or abandoned by their immigrant parents;
• people who served honorably for 12 years in active military service in the USA after October 15, 1978, after enlisting outside the USA;
• NATO civil servants (another category rarely used); and
• people who come to work as broadcasters for the International Broadcasting Bureau of the Broadcasting Council, or for their grantee (a category rarely used).
How can we help you
The Kravitz & Guerra Law Office provides assistance and advice in determining whether the candidate meets the particular immigrant criteria, in addition to advising the necessary documentation and preparing and archiving all the required documentation in the relevant category.
