[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3366 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3366

     To streamline the R-1 religious worker visa petition process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 21, 2016

   Mr. Hatch introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To streamline the R-1 religious worker visa petition process.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. R-1 RELIGIOUS WORKER VISA PETITIONS.

    Section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s) Visas of Nonimmigrants Described in Section 101(a)(15)(R).--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), a 
        consular officer may not issue a visa and the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security may not grant status to any alien under 
        section 101(a)(15)(R) until the Secretary has approved a 
        petition filed on behalf of such alien.
            ``(2) Blanket petition authorized.--Notwithstanding 
        paragraph (1), a petitioner who has satisfied the requirements 
        of paragraph (3) may file a blanket petition, in lieu of 
        individual petitions, on behalf of aliens who meet the 
        eligibility requirements of paragraph (4).
            ``(3) Petitioner requirements.--A petitioner satisfies the 
        requirements of this paragraph if--
                    ``(A) the petitioner has an established program for 
                temporary, uncompensated missionary work in the United 
                States that is part of a broader international 
                missionary work program;
                    ``(B) participation in the missionary work 
                described in subparagraph (A) is an established element 
                of religious development in the petitioner's religious 
                denomination;
                    ``(C) the petitioner provides formal training to 
                its missionaries that is incidental to their missionary 
                service;
                    ``(D) the petitioner has established a financial 
                support system that reasonably ensures that its 
                missionaries will not become public charges during 
                their missionary service; and
                    ``(E) at least 1,000 individual petitions for 
                nonimmigrant religious workers previously filed by the 
                petitioner under section 101(a)(15)(R) have been 
                approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
            ``(4) Eligibility for inclusion in blanket petition.--An 
        alien meets the requirements of this paragraph if the alien--
                    ``(A) is described in section 101(a)(15)(R);
                    ``(B) has been accepted into a missionary program 
                described in paragraph (3)(A); and
                    ``(C) will perform missionary work at a location 
                listed in the blanket-petition approval notice.
            ``(5) Limitation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland 
                Security may only include, in its approval of a blanket 
                petition, locations of missionary service for which the 
                Secretary has previously conducted a site inspection in 
                connection with an individual petition for a religious 
                worker.
                    ``(B) Defined term.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `location of missionary service' means a specific 
                worksite or a geographic area with specific boundaries. 
                If the location of missionary service is a geographical 
                area with specific boundaries, the location shall 
                include a head office or facility that can be 
                reasonably subject to a site inspection.
            ``(6) List of authorized locations of missionary service.--
                    ``(A) Notice.--When the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security approves a blanket petition filed under 
                paragraph (2), the Secretary shall issue a notice to 
                the petitioner containing a list of the locations of 
                missionary service authorized under the blanket 
                petition. Such approval shall remain valid unless 
                revoked by the Secretary of Homeland Security for good 
                cause shown.
                    ``(B) Amendment.--A petitioner under this 
                subsection may file a petition at any time seeking to 
                amend the list of locations of missionary service that 
                were previously authorized.''.
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