Visa Issuance: Issues Concerning the Religious Worker Visa Program
(Letter Report, 03/26/99, GAO/NSIAD-99-67).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1)
the extent and nature of any fraud the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) and the Department of State have identified in the
religious worker visa program; and (2) any steps INS and State have
taken or plan to take to change the visa screening process.

GAO noted that: (1) although INS and State have identified some program
fraud through the visa screening process and investigations, they do not
have data or analysis to firmly establish the extent of fraud in the
religious worker visa program; (2) the nature of the fraud uncovered
typically involved: (a) applicants making false statements about their
qualifications as religious workers or their exact plans in the United
States; or (b) conspiracy between an applicant and a sponsoring
organization to misrepresent material facts about the applicant's
qualifications or the nature of the position to be filled; (3) INS and
State sometimes detect fraud schemes when a sponsoring organization
petitions INS for hundreds of religious workers at a time; (4) in order
to increase the availability of information necessary to allow reviewers
to determine the eligibility of visa applicants and sponsors, INS, with
State's support, is considering changes to the visa screening process;
(5) these changes include: (a) having an applicant submit additional
evidence of his or her qualifications; (b) having the sponsoring
organization submit additional evidence regarding its ability to
financially support the applicant; and (c) incorporating new software
applications that alert reviewers to organizations filing petitions for
numerous workers; (6) INS is also proposing a regulatory change to
expressly require that the prior work experience specified for immigrant
religious worker visa applicants be full-time and that the individuals
work for the religious organization in the United States on a full-time
basis; (7) the religious organizations GAO met with believe the program
meets their needs; and (8) of the seven organizations commenting on the
proposed regulatory change, three opposed it because some part-time
religious workers that are eligible may no longer qualify.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  NSIAD-99-67
     TITLE:  Visa Issuance: Issues Concerning the Religious Worker Visa 
             Program
      DATE:  03/26/99
   SUBJECT:  Immigration and naturalization law
             Immigrants
             Alien labor
             Illegal aliens
             Passports
             Program abuses
             Eligibility determinations
             Fraud
             Forgery
IDENTIFIER:  INS Religious Worker Visa Program
             
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NS99067.book GAO United States General Accounting Office

Report to the Congressional Requesters

March 1999 VISA ISSUANCE Issues Concerning the Religious Worker
Visa Program




GAO/NSIAD-99-67

  GAO/NSIAD-99-67

United States General Accounting Office Washington, D. C. 20548
Lett er

Page 1 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

GAO

National Security and International Affairs Division Lett er

B-279903 March 26, 1999 The Honorable Lamar Smith Chairman The
Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee
on Immigration and Claims Committee on the Judiciary House of
Representatives

The Honorable Melvin Watt House of Representatives

The Honorable Spencer Abraham Chairman The Honorable Edward M.
Kennedy Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Immigration
Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate

In response to concerns from the U. S. religious community about
shortages of domestic religious workers to fill vacancies for
religious positions, 1 the Congress established special immigrant
and nonimmigrant visa 2 categories in 1990, for religious workers,
religious professionals, and ministers.

Religious worker visas constituted about 11,000, of the 7 million
immigrant and nonimmigrant visas issued in fiscal year 1997. The
Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) share responsibility for issuing visas and admitting aliens
into the United States. As a result of some recent fraud
investigations, both agencies have expressed concern that some
individuals and organizations that sponsor religious workers may
be exploiting this category to enable unqualified aliens to enter
or stay in the United States illegally. 1 The legislation uses the
term "religious worker" to apply to (1) ministers, (2) those who
work in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or
occupation, and (3) religious workers and those in a religious
vocation. This report focuses on the third category and, as used,
includes those in vocations such as nuns and monks and those
engaged in work related to a traditional religious function,
including liturgical workers, religious instructors, counselors,
cantors, workers in religious hospitals, and

missionaries. 2 Immigrant visas are for permanent stays in the
United States, and nonimmigrant visas are for temporary stays.

B-279903 Page 2 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

At your request, we determined (1) the extent and nature of any
fraud 3 INS and State have identified in the religious worker visa
program 4 and (2) any steps INS and State have taken or plan to
take to change the visa screening process. To meet our objectives,
we interviewed INS and State headquarters officials, and we
visited INS facilities in California, New York, Texas, and Vermont
5 responsible for processing visas and investigating fraud. We
also met with representatives of 12 religious organizations
involved in the program. Results in Brief Although the Immigration
and Naturalization Service and the State

Department have identified some program fraud through the visa
screening process and investigations, they do not have data or
analysis to firmly establish the extent of fraud in the religious
worker visa program. The

nature of the fraud uncovered typically involved (1) applicants
making false statements about their qualifications as religious
workers or their exact plans in the United States or (2)
conspiracy between an applicant and a sponsoring organization to
misrepresent material facts about the

applicant's qualifications or the nature of the position to be
filled. INS and State sometimes detect fraud schemes when a
sponsoring organization petitions INS for hundreds of religious
workers at a time.

In order to increase the availability of information necessary to
allow reviewers to determine the eligibility of visa applicants
and sponsors, INS, with State's support, is considering changes to
the visa screening process. These changes include (1) having an
applicant submit additional evidence

of his or her qualifications, (2) having the sponsoring
organization submit additional evidence regarding its ability to
financially support the applicant, and (3) incorporating new
software applications that alert reviewers to organizations filing
petitions for numerous workers. INS is also proposing a regulatory
change to expressly require that the prior work

experience specified for immigrant religious worker visa
applicants be 3 Immigration fraud involves the willful intent to
circumvent the immigration laws of the United States by submitting
false documents or misrepresenting material facts. 4 By "program"
we mean all of the requirements, processes, and procedures related
to the issuance of religious worker visas.

5 INS is organized into 3 regions, 33 district offices, 3 overseas
offices, and a number of other offices. It also has service
centers in California, Nebraska, Texas, and Vermont that process
petitions, including those for religious workers. Each service
center generally serves a specific geographic area and processes
petitions from applicants from states in its respective
jurisdiction.

B-279903 Page 3 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

full- time and that the individuals work for the religious
organization in the United States on a full- time basis. The
religious organizations we met with believe the current program
meets their needs. Of the seven organizations commenting on the
proposed regulatory change, three opposed it because some part-
time religious workers that are currently eligible may no longer
qualify.

Background The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 established
special immigrant and nonimmigrant categories for religious
workers, religious professionals, and ministers. 6 The act
authorizes special immigrants to be admitted to the United States
as religious workers if, for 2 years prior to admission, they have
been members of a religious denomination having a bona fide,
nonprofit, religious organization in the United States; they
intend to enter the United States to work for the organization 7
at the organization's request in a religious vocation or
occupation; and they have been carrying on the religious work
continuously for at least 2 years immediately preceding their
application for admission. The act established a limit of 5,000 8
on the number of special immigrant religious workers and religious
professionals that can be admitted in any one year. Although the
special immigrant

provisions for religious workers and religious professionals were
to expire on October 1, 1994, they have been amended twice and
extended to October 1, 2000. Applying for an immigrant religious
worker visa is a two- step process. First, a petition must be
filed with INS. A petition is the form the sponsoring individual
or organization must file on behalf of an alien to demonstrate
that the alien meets the requirements of a specific immigration
category. The petition must include supporting documentation
showing that the religious worker will be working for a

religious organization and how the religious worker will be paid
or remunerated. The documentation should also clearly indicate
that the religious worker will not be solely dependent on
supplemental employment

6 Public Law 101- 649, 104 Stat. 5004, 5027 (Nov. 29, 1990). The
legislation also applies to spouses and children of religious
workers. 7 The act also authorizes the religious workers to work
for a bona fide organization that is affiliated with the religious
denomination and is exempt from taxation as an organization
described in section 501( c)( 3) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986.

8 The employment- based preference limitation, under which special
immigrant religious workers are included, is 140, 000.

B-279903 Page 4 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

or solicitation of funds for support. INS reviewers examine the
petitions and supporting documentation to determine if the alien
meets the program requirements. If INS approves the petition, the
alien files an application for an adjustment of status with INS if
he or she is already in the United States or an application for a
visa with a State overseas post if he or she is abroad. If the
alien does not meet the requirements, INS denies the petition.
About 85 percent of those admitted for permanent residence as
religious workers in fiscal years 1996 and 1997 were already in
the United States.

Nonimmigrant religious workers can be admitted under the same
conditions as special immigrant religious workers, except that
there is no requirement for prior religious work experience, and
the maximum period of stay for nonimmigrant religious workers is 5
years. The authorization for admission of nonimmigrant religious
workers did not contain sunset restrictions nor any limit on the
number that can be admitted. To obtain a nonimmigrant visa, the
alien files an application, but no petition is required.
Documentation required in support of the visa application must
establish the arrangements made, if any, for remuneration,
including the amount and

source of any salary, a description of any other type of
remuneration, and a statement indicating whether the remuneration
will be in exchange for services rendered. The majority of
nonimmigrant religious workers applies and receives their visas
abroad through State's overseas posts. (See app. I for more
information on immigrant and nonimmigrant religious worker visa
issuance.)

The Extent and Nature of Fraud

Both INS and State have expressed concern about fraud in the
religious worker visa program, but they do not have data or
analysis to firmly establish the extent of the problem. Their
knowledge of program fraud is based on information developed
primarily from fraud investigations and through the visa screening
process. INS has conducted several fraud

investigations since 1994 involving hundreds of applicants. In
addition, fraud has been identified through INS' and State's visa
screening processes. The agencies' reviewers generally deny
petitions and visas to unqualified applicants, but according to
the agencies' officials, it is difficult to prove willful intent
to commit fraud. The types of fraud the agencies have encountered
often involved petitioners making false statements about the
length of time that the applicant was a member of the religious
organization

and the nature of the qualifying work experience. Some of the
investigations involved religious organizations petitioning for
more workers than they can reasonably support. Evidence uncovered
by INS

B-279903 Page 5 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

suggests that some of these organizations exist solely as a means
to carry out immigration fraud.

Extent of Fraud Not Known INS and State have uncovered incidents
of fraud in the religious worker visa program, but they do not
routinely investigate questionable visa

petitions and applications or report fraud information by type of
visa. State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the office
responsible for investigating the use of counterfeit U. S.
passports and visas, has not

conducted any investigations of religious worker visa fraud.
State's antifraud units at overseas posts sometimes review
suspicious applications to screen out ineligible applicants, but
they do not routinely report the results to State's headquarters.
Individual cases of suspected fraud are generally not
investigated, unless the suspected fraud is part of a larger
scheme to systematically circumvent immigration laws. Moreover,
INS does not routinely follow up on recipients of employment-
based visas, including religious visas, to determine whether they
comply with the law.

The agencies generally deny questionable visa petitions and
applications they receive. Most are not denied for fraud, but for
other reasons, such as failing to comply with statutory
requirements and regulations, including

failure to provide requested documents. They give fraud as the
reason for the denial when they have sufficient evidence that the
applicant or petitioner willfully misrepresented a material fact.
An INS workload report on immigrant petitions received, approved,
and denied, showed that of the approximately 8,400 petitions for
religious workers processed in fiscal year 1998, 3 percent were
denied for suspected fraud. The reported 3- percent fraud denial
rate for religious worker petitions was the third highest fraud

denial rate among the 44 different immigrant petition categories
listed. The fraud denial rate for most of the other categories was
less than 1 percent. State Department statistics on visa denials
do not identify denials by type of visa. However, a 1998 State
survey of 83 overseas posts identified instances of fraud
uncovered during visa processing.

Investigations Illustrate Schemes Used to Circumvent Immigration
Laws

At our request, the Fraud Branch at INS' Office of Investigations
in Washington, D. C., surveyed fraud units in INS' district and
suboffices to identify the number of active and closed fraud
investigations involving religious worker visas since 1994. The
units identified 54 such investigations involving about 1,700
petitions 9 during the 5- year period. The 54 INS investigations,
of which about 40 are closed, ranged from cases involving
individual fraud schemes to organized fraud rings. 10 For

B-279903 Page 6 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

example, the fraud unit in the Chicago District Office
investigated 30 cases involving individuals who failed to meet the
2- year experience requirement. At least five investigations
performed by INS since 1994 have involved individuals or
organizations filing petitions for hundreds of religious workers.
For example, in 1995, INS investigated a pastor who filed 450
immigrant religious worker petitions covering over 900
individuals, falsifying the number of years the aliens had been a
member of the church. The pastor died of natural causes before an
indictment could be returned,

and the petitions were denied or allowed to expire. INS recently
completed an investigation it started in 1994 involving suspects
who provided false supporting documents to INS to show that the
aliens met the 2- year work experience requirement. This
investigation, which involved over 400 petitions, ultimately led
to the arrests of six individuals, guilty pleas to charges of
conspiracy to commit visa fraud, and additional investigations

of several similar schemes. In another recent case, reviewers at
INS' Vermont Service Center became suspicious when one
organization, which had filed about 100 petitions for immigrant
visas the previous 2 years combined, filed over 200 petitions the
third year. The reviewers doubted that the organization could
support so many full- time workers and referred

the case to an INS district office fraud unit where it is
currently under investigation.

Some investigations were initiated because of suspicious activity
identified by State Department consular officials. For example,
consular officers at the U. S. embassy in Suva, Fiji, became
suspicious of a church that filed

petitions on behalf of 30 individuals from Fiji who were in the
United States on expired visitors' visas. The information was
forwarded to INS for investigation. The investigation revealed
that only 1 of the 30 petitions met the requirements for a
religious worker visa. The post suspected that this scheme was
related to a larger one involving petitions on behalf of Tonga
residents to stay in the United States illegally. Also, the U. S.
embassy in

Bogota uncovered a fraud scheme in which the local church was
providing applicants with false documents to demonstrate that the
applicants had been members of the church for the required 2- year
period. The embassy's antifraud unit discovered that in some cases
the applicants had recently joined the church, and in other cases,
they had no membership affiliation at all. 9 To arrive at these
figures, we counted the number of investigations reported by each
unit responding to

the INS survey and the number of petitions involved when they were
identified. 10 In contrast, INS opened over 6,000 immigration
fraud investigations in fiscal year 1997.

B-279903 Page 7 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Changes to the Visa Screening Process

INS and State reviewers stated that they are not confident that
the agencies' screening process is identifying all unqualified
applicants and sponsoring organizations. They attributed the
problem to the lack of sufficient information to determine the
eligibility of visa applicants and their sponsors. INS, with
State's support, is considering a number of steps to address this
problem.

Lack of Sufficient Information

INS requires the petitioner to provide evidence that (1) the
organization qualifies as a nonprofit organization, (2) the alien
meets the qualifications for an immigrant religious worker visa,
and (3) the alien will be paid or otherwise remunerated by the
religious organization.

INS and State reviewers have asserted that sometimes the required
supporting evidence, although minimally acceptable, consists of
little more than a letter from the sponsoring organization and
does not adequately establish an applicant's eligibility as a
religious worker or the sponsoring

organization's ability to pay the worker. The reviewer can deny
the application or petition pending the receipt of additional
information, but such actions take more time. The INS reviewers
stated that more specific information about the applicant's
training and qualifications and the exact nature of the position
to be filled, including the number of petitions previously filed,
should be provided up front, similar to other

employment- based visa categories. In addition, unlike most other
employment- based visas, the applicant can file a petition on his
or her own behalf and, although supporting documentation from the
sponsoring organization is still required, all of it can be
submitted by the applicant. For most other employment- based visa
categories, the petition and supporting

documentation must be submitted by the potential employer. The
reviewers believe INS should require information from
independently verifiable sources. The reviewers also stated that
the documents should be

current. They said that sometimes the sponsoring organizations
submit copies of their original tax- exemption form, which may no
longer be valid. A related issue raised by State's overseas posts
concerns the definition of a "religious worker." They believe that
the definition of religious worker is too broad, making the
religious worker visa program an attractive vehicle for fraud and
abuse. According to the survey, posts sometimes struggled

with what they considered to be the "marginal" nature of some of
the religious positions used by the applicants. A common sentiment
was that almost anyone involved with a church, aside from those
occupations that

B-279903 Page 8 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

were not intended to be covered by the 1990 religious worker visa
legislation, for example, maintenance and cleaning staff, could
qualify as a religious worker.

INS Is Considering Steps to Address the Problems

INS is developing a number of initiatives to improve its visa
screening process and to detect and deter fraud. Most of these
initiatives are focused on requiring petitions to include more
comprehensive information to allow reviewers to make better
informed decisions. Some of the service centers are using the
capabilities of commercial software to enhance their ability to

identify patterns and trends that may indicate fraud. State
officials said they would support INS' efforts to increase
evidentiary standards. Further, State is consulting with the
Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor to develop
more comprehensive information on religious occupations and
organizations to help the overseas posts better understand

the definition of "religious worker" and "traditional" religious
functions. Full- time Work Requirement INS is in the process of
implementing a proposed regulatory change to expressly require
that the prior work experience specified for immigrant religious
worker visa applicants be full- time work. 11 The proposed rule
also states that the documentation supporting an applicant's
petition must indicate that the religious worker will be working
for the religious organization in the United States on a full-
time basis. INS officials stated

that INS is changing the regulation to address the problem of
individuals doing part- time voluntary work for a religious
organization while working full- time in a secular occupation.
They said an applicant's ability to demonstrate 2 years of prior
full- time, paid religious work experience is a good indication
that the individual is a committed religious worker. They also
believe such experience is a good indicator that the individual
will be

doing full- time religious work for which the organization will
pay a salary. The proposed changes were initially published for
comment in June 1995. According to INS, it plans to finalize the
regulatory change in October 1999. Additional Documentary
Requirements

INS is also considering revising its requirements for the
documents that must be initially submitted by the petitioner for
an immigrant visa. Such documents could include pay stubs to show
that the worker was compensated for full- time work and bank
statements to demonstrate that 11 As previously mentioned, current
law requires applicants to have been performing religious work

continuously for at least 2 years before filing their petitions
and that they are to work for the requesting organization once
they enter the United States.

B-279903 Page 9 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

the organizations have sufficient financial resources to support
their worker or workers. INS has the authority to ask for
additional evidence to verify information in the petitions, and
some INS reviewers will defer making a final decision until the
organization furnishes this type of

supplemental information. The suggested change involving
additional documentation would increase the amount of information
that all organizations must initially submit and that all
adjudicators would use to review petitions. By initially requiring
more specific documents and by clarifying the full- time religious
work requirements, INS may also reduce

the number of filings by unqualified applicants. INS has no
timetable for implementing the changes to the requirements for
supporting documents. However, INS officials stated that they
might revise the documentary requirements after the agency
redrafts or finalizes its proposed rule change on the full- time
work experience requirement. According to a State official, State
would participate in any changes to the

requirements for immigrant visas and publish visa regulations
jointly with INS. He said that, if appropriate, State would revise
its documentary requirements for nonimmigrant visas to correspond
with INS' suggested revisions for immigrant visas.

Improved Access to INS Data Can Help Verify Eligibility

Until recently, reviewers could not quickly and efficiently
determine how many filings had been made by a petitioning
organization. As previously discussed, organizations petitioning
for numbers of workers that appear to be inconsistent with the
organization's membership size and financial resources to support
the workers sometimes indicates fraud. However,

until a pattern had been identified, the reviewers could not know
if the petitions were potentially fraudulent. For example, one
organization currently under investigation had 37 petitions
approved in fiscal year 1996 and 76 petitions approved in fiscal
year 1997 before the pattern was detected. While all service
centers now have the capability to identify multiple filers, the
California and Vermont Service Centers have developed their own
systems using commercial off- the- shelf software (Microsoft SQL

for California and Oracle and Access for Vermont), which they
believe provides more efficient inquiry and reporting capability
than the system provided by INS headquarters. In addition, the two
service centers are in the process of consolidating their
databases so that they can share data.

Views of Religious Organizations

We visited 12 religious organizations in California, New York,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia to discuss their experience
with the religious worker visa program. The religious
organizations generally believed that

B-279903 Page 10 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

the program met their needs. For example, several of the
organizations use the program to meet the needs of growing ethnic
congregations. One church with 7, 000 members uses the program to
provide workers to

minister to its separate Filipino, Korean, Hispanic, and French-
and English- speaking African congregations. A religious
organization with a worldwide membership uses the program to
recruit native speakers familiar with the religion to serve as
religious translators and broadcasters.

Another religious organization with 3 million members in more than
120 countries uses nonimmigrant religious workers to participate
in church- sponsored community service programs. We asked
representatives of the organizations for their opinions of INS'
proposed changes to the program. Of the seven commenting on the
full- time work experience requirement, four stated that the
proposal would not negatively affect their organization, because
the majority of the

applicants they sponsor for immigrant religious worker visas have
already been serving in full- time capacities. However, three
expressed reservations. For example, the representative of one
religious organization stated that the requirement might adversely
affect applicants who work for congregations in which ministerial
duties are shared. The representative of another organization
stated that the full- time work experience requirement could be
problematic for those engaged in

religious vocations if proof of paid full- time work was required,
because some individuals are often not paid a salary. He said the
requirement could also cause problems for some individuals who
perform their religious duties part- time while studying for the
priesthood or ministry.

Three of the four religious organizations commenting on the
proposed change in documentary evidence requirements stated that
the change would not pose a problem. However, the one opposed to
the proposed

change pointed out that INS already has the discretion to ask for
additional documents when required and does not believe that
religious employers and applicants should routinely be required to
assume additional documentary burdens. Some representatives also
stated that INS should avoid the appearance of deciding for a
religious organization what constitutes religious work.

In addition to asking for their opinions on the potential
modifications proposed by INS, we also asked the religious
organizations for their suggestions for improving the program.
Three of the organizations suggested making the special immigrant
religious worker visa category permanent. The representative of
one of the religious organizations said

B-279903 Page 11 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

this would eliminate the glut of petitions that are filed before
the "sunset" date. One organization that was familiar with student
visas suggested that a sponsoring organization could submit to INS
an annual status report on each of its nonimmigrant religious
workers, much like academic institutions that must annually
certify the status of foreign students. Another organization
suggested that INS provide some materials concerning the religious
worker visa program in some foreign languages to help ensure that
organizations fully understand the regulations and

requirements of the program. Conclusion Both INS and State are
attempting to balance the need to screen out unqualified
applicants with the religious worker visa program's original
purpose of facilitating the entry of qualified religious workers.
The program modifications that INS is undertaking or plans to
undertake to

verify the accuracy of petitions for immigrant religious worker
visas are reasonable steps to improve program integrity. If
implemented, the modifications should help to better screen visa
applicants and religious organizations.

Agency Comments In oral comments on a draft of this report, INS
and State concurred with the report's findings and conclusions.
INS noted that its planned regulatory change and other steps
underway to improve its screening process should help reduce the
incidence of fraud. INS and State also provided technical
comments, which we have incorporated as appropriate.

Scope and Methodology To determine whether INS and State have data
on any fraud in the religious

worker visa program and to determine the nature of any abuse, we
met with INS and State headquarters officials and visited three of
the four INS service centers responsible for processing and
approving religious worker visas. We also analyzed information
from about 700 religious worker visa petitions denied by the
California Service Center between January 1, 1996,

and August 18, 1997, and data from about 83 responses to a State
Department survey of 100 of its overseas posts in February 1998.
We met with officials at INS' New York District Office responsible
for interviewing visa applicants, and other officials to discuss
INS' efforts to identify patterns and trends in the use of the
program that could indicate fraud. We also met with officials of
State's Fraud Prevention Program and Office of Diplomatic Security
to discuss State's efforts to identify and investigate

B-279903 Page 12 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

religious worker visa fraud. In addition, we met with fraud
investigators from INS' Los Angeles District Office to discuss
specific fraud investigations and INS' processes for accepting,
investigating, and resolving fraud cases. We interviewed INS and
State officials to discuss their agencies' processes

and procedures for determining if visa applicants and sponsoring
organizations met program requirements. We reviewed the relevant
law and related legislative history, the INS regulations, State's
Foreign Affairs Manual, advisory cables to the overseas posts, and
other guidance to determine what criteria the agencies use to
judge petitions and applications. We observed the process for
reviewing and approving visa petitions at three INS service
centers in California, Texas, and Vermont and

discussed with service center staff how petitions are evaluated
and the limitations of the process. We also queried by telephone
consular posts in India, Korea, Mexico, and the Philippines about
their processes and

procedures for reviewing and approving visa applications. We chose
those posts because they process relatively large numbers of
applications for nonimmigrant religious worker visas.

To identify any steps INS and State had taken or planned to take
to address identified problems, we met with INS and State
officials. We discussed the potential effect of any proposed
changes with representatives of the U. S. Catholic Conference, the
General Conference of the Seventh- Day Adventist Church, the
Christian Science Church, Agudath Israel of America, and the

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. We selected these
organizations because they have testified in support of the
special visa for religious workers or are otherwise considered
knowledgeable about the program. We also discussed the proposed
changes with churches and other religious institutions that use
the program. We selected these organizations by extracting
information from the California and Vermont

Service Centers' databases of religious worker visa petitions
approved in fiscal year 1997 to identify the churches using the
program. We selected an illustrative sample of large, medium, and
small users based on the number of each organization's approved
petitions. We interviewed representatives of seven churches from
this group.

B-279903 Page 13 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

We conducted our review from February 1998 to November 1998 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional
committees. We are also sending copies to the Honorable Madeleine
Albright, Secretary of State, and the Honorable Doris Meissner,
Commissioner, INS. We will also make copies available to others
upon request.

Please contact me at (202) 512- 4128 if you or any of your staff
have any questions concerning this report. The major contributors
to this report are listed in appendix II.

Benjamin F. Nelson, Director International Relations and Trade
Issues

Page 14 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Contents Letter 1 Appendix I Religious Worker Visas Numbers Issued
and Recipients' Countries of Origin

16 Appendix II Major Contributors to This Report

18 Figures Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Religious Worker Visas
Issued

Since Fiscal Year 1992 16 Major Countries of Origin for Immigrant
and Nonimmigrant

Religious Worker Visa Recipients in Fiscal Year 1998 17

Abbreviations

INS Immigration and Naturalization Service

Page 15 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Page 16 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Appendix I Religious Worker Visas Numbers Issued and Recipients'
Countries of Origin Appendi x I

This appendix shows the number of religious worker visas issued
from fiscal years 1992 to 1998 and the major countries of origin
of visa recipients in fiscal year 1998. Figure I. 1 shows that the
number of immigrant religious

worker visas issued since fiscal year 1992 has fluctuated,
reaching the annual limit of 5,000 in fiscal years 1994 and 1997,
when the program was scheduled to expire. Meanwhile, issuances of
nonimmigrant visas have steadily increased since fiscal year 1992.
Figure I. 2 shows that South Korea

and India were the top countries of origin of immigrant and
nonimmigrant religious worker visas, respectively. Figure I. 1:
Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Religious Worker Visas Issued Since
Fiscal Year 1992 Source: State Department Bureau of Consular
Affairs.

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 0 2,000

4,000 6,000

8,000 755

2,715 5,000

2,423 4,046

5,000 4,478

2,154 3,214

4,291 4,907

5,511 6,373 6,664

Fiscal year Visas

Immigrant visas Nonimmigrant visas

Appendix I Religious Worker Visas Numbers Issued and Recipients'
Countries of Origin

Page 17 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Figure I. 2: Major Countries of Origin for Immigrant and
Nonimmigrant Religious Worker Visa Recipients in Fiscal Year 1998

g

Source: State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Mexico Immigrant visas Nonimmigrant visas

257 618

South Korea 993

India 267

788 Great Britain

and Northern Ireland

328 Poland

227 293 Philippines

254 200

Page 18 GAO/NSIAD-99-67 Visa Issuance

Appendix II Major Contributors to This Report Appendi x I I

National Security and International Affairs Division, Washington,
D. C.

Diana M. Glod Andrew D. Crawford La Verne G. Tharpes

Office of the General Counsel, Washington, D. C.

Richard Seldin

(711322)

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