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Improving Continuity for Religious Organizations and Their Employees

Agency updatePublished Jun 26, 2026Changes requirements

A policy alert is USCIS guidance to its own officers, not a regulation. It governs how USCIS adjudicates, and it can be revised or withdrawn without rulemaking.

What the document says

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to implement the regulatory change to the requirement on how long a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) must remain outside the United States after reaching the 5-year statutory maximum period of stay.

Who the document names

The document does not name specific countries or visa categories in its scope language. Read the original to confirm whether it applies to a particular case.

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About this record

Source
USCIS Policy Manual, checked Sep 24, 2026
Review
Classified automatically; not reviewed by a person
  • The updates page does not publish an effective date. Where the guidance states one, it is in the linked document. This event does not assert an effective date it cannot cite.
  • Affected Policy Manual sections, as listed by USCIS: 2 USCIS-PM O.7 (Nonimmigrants).

Built from the linked government document by published rules, not by a language model. Information about a published document, not legal advice about anyone’s case. Methodology · Permalink