Visa Issuance: Observations on the Issuance of Visas for Religious
Workers (Testimony, 06/29/2000, GAO/T-NSIAD-00-207).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the issuance of visas
for religious workers entering the United States, focusing on: (1) the
extent and nature of any fraud the Department of State and the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) have identified in the
religious worker visa program; and (2) any steps these two agencies 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 progress and investigations, they do
not have data or analysis to firmly establish the extent of fraud in the
religious worker visa program; (2) INS compiled information showing that
it has conducted 54 investigations from 1994 through 1998; (3) in
addition, a 1998 State survey of 83 overseas posts identified instances
of potential fraud uncovered during the visa screening process; (4) the
nature of the fraud uncovered by INS and State typically involved two
situations: (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; (5) INS and
State sometimes detect fraud schemes when a sponsoring organization
petitions INS for hundreds of religious workers at a time; (6) since INS
and State are not confident that the agencies screening process is
identifying all unqualified applicants and sponsoring organizations,
INS, with State's support, is considering a regulatory change and
changes to the visa screening process; (7) at the time of GAO's March
1999 review, INS had proposed a regulatory change to expressly require
that immigrant religious worker visa applicants have full-time prior
work experience and work for the religious organization on a full-time
basis in the United States; (8) other changes were to include: (a)
requiring an applicant to submit additional evidence of his or her
qualifications; (b) requiring the sponsoring organization to 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; (9) as
of June 2000, the proposed regulatory change had not been made; (10) on
the procedural changes, INS indicated it will continue to support the
requirement for more information from visa applicants and may include
this requirement as part of the proposed regulatory change; (11)
according to INS officials, software changes have been made to detect
multiple filings by organizations; and (12) the program modifications
that INS is undertaking or plans to undertake to verify the accuracy of
petitions for immigrant religious visas are reasonable steps to improve
program integrity.

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

 REPORTNUM:  T-NSIAD-00-207
     TITLE:  Visa Issuance: Observations on the Issuance of Visas for
	     Religious Workers
      DATE:  06/29/2000
   SUBJECT:  Immigrants
	     Alien labor
	     Illegal aliens
	     Fraud
	     Forgery
	     Program abuses
	     Passports
	     Immigration and naturalization law
	     Eligibility determinations
	     Internal controls
IDENTIFIER:  INS Religious Worker Visa Program

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GAO/T-NSIAD-00-207

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 1 VISA ISSUANCE

Observations on the Issuance of Visas for Religious Workers Statement of
Jess T. Ford, Associate Director, International Relations and Trade Issues,
National Security and International Affairs Division

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims,

Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery Expected at 10: 00 a. m., Thursday, June 29, 2000

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 2 Mr. Chairman and Members of
the Subcommittee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the issuance of visas for religious
workers entering the United States. As you know, in 1990, Congress
established special immigrant and nonimmigrant visa categories for religious
workers 1 , including religious professionals and ministers, because of
domestic shortages in these positions cited by religious organizations. In
1998, the most recent year for which we have data, religious worker visas
constituted about 11,000 of the 6.4 million immigrant (permanent) and
nonimmigrant (temporary) visas issued. 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 fraud investigations in the mid- 1990s, both agencies have expressed
concern that some individuals and organizations that sponsor religious
workers may be taking advantage of this category to enable unqualified
aliens to enter or stay in the United States illegally.

My testimony today will focus on (1) the extent and nature of any fraud 2
the Department of State and INS have identified in the religious worker visa
program 3 and (2) any steps these two agencies have taken or plan to take to
change the visa screening process. My

1 Our testimony focuses on 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 Immigration fraud involves the
willful intent to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States by

submitting false documents or misrepresenting material facts. 3 By
“program,” we mean all of the requirements, processes, and
procedures related to the issuance of

religious worker visas.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 3 testimony is based on our
March 1999 report 4 and on some additional information

obtained from INS and the Department of State. SUMMARY Although INS 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.
At our request, INS compiled information showing that it has conducted 54
investigations from 1994 through 1998. In addition, a 1998 State Department
survey of 83 overseas posts identified instances of potential fraud
uncovered during the visa screening process. The nature of the fraud
uncovered by INS and State typically involved two situations: (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 the Service for hundreds of religious workers at a time.

Since INS and State are not confident that the agencies screening process is
identifying all unqualified applicants and sponsoring organizations, INS,
with State's support, is considering a regulatory change and changes to the
visa screening process. At the time of our March 1999 review, INS had
proposed a regulatory change to expressly require 4 See Visa Issuance:
Issues Concerning the Religious Worker Visa Program (GAO/ NSIAD- 99- 67,
Mar. 26, 1999).

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 4 that immigrant religious
worker visa applicants have full- time prior work experience and

work for the religious organization on a full- time basis in the United
States. Other changes were to include (1) requiring an applicant to submit
additional evidence of his or her qualifications, (2) requiring the
sponsoring organization to 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.

As of June 2000, the proposed regulatory change had not been made. On the
procedural changes, INS indicated it will continue to support the
requirement for more information from visa applicants and may include this
requirement as part of the proposed regulatory change. Given that they
already have the authority to request additional information from the
petitioning organizations, the INS says that no additional procedural
changes are needed. According to INS officials, software changes have been
made to detect multiple filings by organizations.

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 visas are reasonable steps to
improve program integrity. If implemented, the modifications should help to
better screen visa applicants and religious organizations.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 5 BACKGROUND

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 established special immigrant
and nonimmigrant categories for religious workers, religious professionals,
and ministers 5. The act established an annual limit of 5,000 6 on the
number of special immigrant religious workers and religious professionals
that can be admitted to the United States. According to INS data, about 85
percent of those admitted for permanent residence as religious workers in
fiscal years 1996 and 1997 were already in the United States. About 17
percent of the applicants were in the United States as nonimmigrant
religious workers. The others were in the United States on other types of
nonimmigrant visas such as student and business visas. The legislative
authority for the special immigrant provisions for religious workers and
religious professionals is scheduled to expire in October 1, 2000.

To obtain an immigrant religious worker visa and permanently stay in the
United States, a sponsoring individual or organization must first file a
petition with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The petition
must include supporting documentation showing that the religious worker will
be working for a religious organization and specifying how the worker will
be paid or remunerated. In addition, the documentation must state that the
religious worker will not be solely dependent on other employment or

5 Public Law 101- 649, 104 Stat. 5004, 5027 (Nov. 29, 1990). The legislation
also applies to spouses and children of religious worker. 6 The employment-
based preference limitation, under which special immigrant religious workers
are

included, is 140,000.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 6 the solicitation of funds
for support 7 . If INS approves the petition, the individual files an

application for an adjustment of status with INS if he or she is already in
the United States. If he or she is abroad, the alien files a visa
application with a State overseas post. The applicants must state that they
intend to work for the organization at the organization's request in a
religious capacity and they have been performing religious work continuously
for at least 2 years prior to applying for admission.

Nonimmigrant or temporary religious workers can be admitted under the same
conditions as special immigrant religious workers, except that they are not
required to have prior religious work experience, and their maximum period
of stay is limited to 5 years. The authorization for admission of
nonimmigrant religious workers did not contain sunset restrictions or any
limit on the number that can be admitted. To obtain a nonimmigrant visa, the
individual files an application, but no petition is required. The supporting
documentation 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.

7 The special immigrant religious workers must have been members, for at
least 2 prior years, of a religious denomination having a bona fide,
nonprofit, religious organization in the United States (or of a bona fide
organization that is affiliated with the re as an organization described in
section 501( c)( 3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986); they must state
that they intend to enter the United States to work for the organization at
the organization's request in a religious vocation or occupation; and they
must have been carrying on the religious work continuously for at least 2
years immediately prior to applying for admission.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 7 THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF
FRAUD

Neither INS nor State knows the overall extent of fraud in the religious
worker visa program. Both agencies 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. In addition,
State does not maintain complete statistics on the extent of fraud in this
program. Individual cases of suspected fraud are generally not investigated
unless the suspected fraud is part of a larger scheme to systematically
circumvent immigration laws.

The agencies stated that they 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. State
Department statistics on visa denials do not identify denials by type of
visa. However, at our request, State surveyed 83 overseas posts in 1998.
They reported several instances of religious worker visa fraud uncovered
during processing.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 8 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 from 1994 to 1998. The units identified 54 such
investigations involving about 1,700 petitions 8 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 9 . For 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 INS investigations 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 members of the church. The pastor died of natural
causes before an indictment could be returned, and the petitions were denied
or allowed to expire. About a year ago, INS completed an investigation it
started in 1994 involving suspects who provided false supporting documents
to INS to show that the individuals had 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 case, reviewers at INS' Vermont Service Center
became suspicious when one organization, which had filed about 100 petitions
for immigrant visas during the previous 2 years, filed 8 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.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 9 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.

Some investigations were initiated because of suspicious activity that State
Department consular officials identified. 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
residents of Tonga (near the Fiji Islands) to stay in the United States
illegally. Also, the U. S. embassy in Bogota, Colombia 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.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE VISA PROCESS INS and State reviewers told us that
they were not confident that the agencies screening process is identifying
all unqualified applicants and sponsoring organizations. They

9 In contrast, INS opened over 6,000 immigration fraud investigations in
fiscal year 1997.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 10 attributed the problem to
the lack of sufficient information to determine the eligibility of

visa applicants and their sponsors. To help remedy the situation, INS told
us that it is developing a number of initiatives to improve its visa
screening process and to detect and deter fraud. Among the actions INS was
considering was a regulatory change regarding the full- time work
requirement, the provision of additional documents by a petitioner, and
greater use of software to verify petitioners' eligibility.

Lack of Sufficient Information INS requires petitioners for an immigrant
religious worker visa to provide three kinds of evidence: (1) the sponsoring
organization must qualify as a nonprofit organization, (2) the petitioner
must meet the qualifications for an immigrant religious worker visa, and (3)
the petitioner will be paid or otherwise remunerated by the sponsoring
religious organization.

INS and State petition reviewers have asserted that sometimes the required
supporting evidence, although minimally acceptable, consists of little more
than a letter from the sponsoring organization. According to INS and State,
this documentation does not adequately establish an applicant's eligibility
as a religious worker or the sponsoring organization's ability to pay the
worker. Reviewers can deny applications or petitions pending the receipt of
additional information, but such actions take more time. Furthermore, the
reviewers believe that INS should require information from

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 11 independently verifiable
sources 10 and that the sponsoring organizations 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.

Reviewers at some of State's overseas posts raised a related issue
concerning the definition of a “religious worker”. They reported
that the definition of religious worker is too broad, making the religious
worker visa program an attractive vehicle for fraud and abuse. Posts
sometimes struggled with what they considered to be the
“marginal” nature of some of the religious positions the
applicants said they were employed to fill. A common sentiment was that
almost anyone involved with a church, aside from those occupations that 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.

Full- time Work Requirement In June 1995, INS published for comment in the
Federal Register a proposed regulatory change to expressly require that the
prior work experience specified for immigrant religious worker visa
applications be full- time work. The proposed rule also stated 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 10 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
the applicant can submit all of it. For most other employment- based visa
categories, the potential employer must submit the petition and supporting
documentation.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 12 basis. INS officials stated
that INS wanted to change 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 believe
that requiring that the two years of experience be full time provides ample
evidence of an individual's commitment to working for the religious
organization 11 . At the time of our report, INS told us it planned to
finalize the regulatory change by October 1999. However, INS still has not
implemented the change.

Additional Documentary Requirements INS also said it was considering
revising its requirements for the documents that must be initially submitted
by the applicant for an immigrant visa. They were also considering
incorporating these requirements in the proposed regulatory change. These
additional documents could include pay stubs to show that the worker was
compensated for fulltime work and bank statements to demonstrate that the
organizations have sufficient financial resources to support their worker or
workers. Given that such document could be fabricated, INS may instead
request that the intending employer or petitioner provide a description of
the qualifications for the position to be filled. This information could be
used during the applicant's interview to verify and corroborate that the
applicant posses the right skills for the position. By adding documentation
requirements, INS hoped to reduce the number of filings by unqualified
applicants.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 13 According to a State
Department official, State would participate in any changes to the

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

Greater Use of Software to Verify Eligibility

Until recently, INS and State petition reviewers could not quickly and
efficiently determine how many petitions had been filed by specific
organizations. As previously noted, 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 referred for investigation had 37 petitions approved in fiscal
year 1996 and 76 petitions approved in fiscal year 1997 before the pattern
was detected. At the time of our review, the California and Vermont INS
Service Centers had developed their own systems using commercial, off- the-
shelf software which they believe provided more efficient inquiry and
reporting capability than the system INS headquarters provides. In addition,
the two service centers were in the process of consolidating their databases
so that they can share data. We were told by INS that all of the service
centers now have the capability to detect multiple filers and query each
other's databases.

11 The Service is also considering including language in regulations for
nonimmigrant religious workers stating that the purpose of the religious
worker is to work “solely” for the religious organization.

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 14 ---

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared
testimony. I would be happy to respond to any questions you or other Members
may have.

CONTACT AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For future contacts regarding this testimony
please call Jess Ford at (202) 512- 4128. Individuals making key
contributions to this testimony included Diana Glod, La Verne Tharpes, and
Richard Seldin.

(711546)

GAO/ T- NSIAD- 00- 207 Religious Worker Visas 15 ORDERS BY INTERNET

For information on how to access GAO reports on the INTERNET, send an e-
mail message with “info” in the body to

Info@ www. gao. gov or visit GAO's World Wide Web Home Page at http:// www.
gao. gov TO REPORT FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Contact one:

ï¿½ website: http:// www. gao. gov/ fraudnet/ fraudnet. htm

ï¿½ e- mail: fraudnet@ gao. gov

ï¿½ 1- 800- 424- 5454 (automated answering system)
*** End of document. ***