R-1 Religious Workers, R-2 spouse and children of R-1

Our Korean client was a Seminary student and was offered a job as a Youth Minister with a Korean Church. We saw an opportunity to file an R visa for him, but the problem was that he had not received his graduation certificate nor had he been ordained yet. In May 2007 we filed the R-1 visa petition for him and R-2 petition for his family. They asked us for additional evidence (RFE) which we responded by October 2007. Throughout the waiting period, we constantly followed up by updating information with our client and checking with USCIS. We were also checking if there would be onsite audit conducted by USCIS, as they often do in this kind of petitions. In July 2008, USCIS conducted an onsite audit, and in less than two weeks, both petitions R-1/R-2 for client and family got approved. Our client was very happy to be approved, having experienced the difficulty in getting an R-1 visa approved, given the reviewing procedures, RFE and audits that USCIS is conducting now for these cases.

In May 2007 we filed an I-360 (Religious Worker Immigrant Visa) petition, for a very nice Pilipino client. He had a long history of service as a missionary and minister, and now he had been appointed to work in USA. Even with all his merits, USCIS requested more evidence that we were able to request and gather from overseas. Finally, in May 2008 the petition was approved and our client was able to continue with his service.

In April 2007 we filed and I-129 R-1/R-2 (Non-Immigrant Petition in the category of Religious Worker) for a Pilipino missionary and minister. Our client's petition was approved in May 2008, with no request for additional evidence.

In February 2007 we filed R-1/R-2 (Religious Worker Visa and visa for his spouse and children) for a family of South Korean Nationals who had been residing in the U.S. for many years under an F student visa status. The case went through site audit, but we had all the supporting documents to back up the petition. We received the approvals today, valid for three years.

R-1 Motion to Reopen (MTR): Client hired a local law firm to file her R-1 extension (Religious Worker Visa) in early 2007 and to do the Request for Evidence (RFE) response. However, USCIS never received the RFE response and the case was denied due to abandonment. After learning about our office, the client hired us. Our attorneys and paralegals worked without stop to timely file a MTR. The motion was granted and our client has been given extra time to facilitate more information on the case