This important measure would allow religious workers lawfully present in the United States to continue serving communities in the Commonwealth. Without this relief, faithful men and women will increasingly be forced to abandon their ministries, preventing them from meeting people’s spiritual and physical needs and hindering the free exercise of religion in PA.
The RWPA is a simple, targeted measure that would rely on precedent in existing law to provide flexibility to foreign-born religious workers and their employers in the United States who are confronted by an expanded backlog in the employment-based, fourth preference (EB-4) visa category. Due to the backlog, someone applying today through the EB-4 category would be forced to wait well over a decade before receiving permanent residency in the United States. This impacts the diverse array of religious traditions that have come to depend on the Religious Worker Visa Program.
Under the RWPA, those already in the United States on an R-1 visa (normally capped at five years) who have applied for permanent residency, would be able to remain in the country in their current non-immigrant status for renewable, three-year periods until they are able to receive a green card. In the absence of this relief, R-1 visa holders awaiting adjustment of their status are forced to leave the country and abandon their ministries. Moreover, under existing regulations, those faced with this situation cannot return on a subsequent R-1 visa for at least one year, creating significant hardship for the workers, their employers, and the people they serve.
Please contact your members of Congress today and ask them to support passage of the bipartisan Religious Workforce Protection Act (RWPA) (S. 1298/H.R. 2672).