Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Religious Worker Visa Reciprocity Act of 2019”.
Religious Worker Visa Reciprocity Act of 2019
A BILL
To require the country of origin of certain special immigrant religious workers to extend reciprocal immigration treatment to nationals of the United States.
Sec. 2 Requiring reciprocal immigration treatment
Section 204(a)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(G)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(iii) Beginning on October 1, 2017, no petition may be approved for classification of an alien as a special immigrant under section 101(a)(27)(C) if the Secretary of Homeland Security has determined that the country of the alien’s nationality—
“(I) is identified as a Country of Particular Concern or a country where religious freedom is of significant interest in the 2018 International Religious Freedom Report; or
“(II) does not extend reciprocal immigration treatment to nationals of the United States who are seeking resident status in order to work in a religious vocation or occupation.”