Jun
19
A spokeswoman for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has accused the official US visa program for immigrant religious workers to be rife with abuse by fraudulent applicants.
Chris Rhatigan claims that while the immigrant religious worker visa program should not be ended, it is in desperate need of reform.
According to a 2006 survey by the Homeland Security Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, as many as a third of all immigrant religious worker visa applications were fraudulent.
As part of the new immigration reform bill currently making its way through the US Senate, USCIS would cut the initial length of stay under the visa program from three years to one year, while applicant evaluations would be more strict.