Non-Minister Special Immigrant Program for Certain Religious Workers Temporarily Expires

Update (5/8/2017): President Donald Trump signed a spending bill that will extend the non-minister special immigrant program for certain religious workers through September 30, 2017. The legislation also expands the EB5 regional center program and the Conrad 30 Waiver program through September 30. We will post a more detailed update on the spending legislation shortly.

Update (5/1/2017): On Friday, April 28, 2017, Congress agreed to a one-week extension of government funding. Over the weekend, Congress agreed on legislation to extend government funding for the rest of fiscal year 2017. Provided that this legislation is signed into law as expected,it will extend the authorization non-minister special immigrant program for certain religious workers and the EB5 program through September 2017. We will update the site once the legislation is signed into law.

Original Article (4/28/2017): The non-minister special immigrant program for certain religious workers was allowed to temporarily expire. Accordingly, subsequent to midnight on April 27, 2017, no final action can be taken on adjustment of status cases in this category until the program is reauthorized. Furthermore, no individuals seeking initial admission as a non-minister special immigrant may be admitted.

Congress is expected to reauthorize the program as part of a larger piece of legislation to fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2017. Congress is working to pass the spending legislation as of the writing of this article (April 28, 2017). We will update the site when more information is known. The employment-based fifth preference category is in a similar situation with its authorization slated to expire at the end of the business day on April 28, 2017.

Please see our article on the May 2017 Visa Bulletin for more information [see article].