US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

ha haa! thats the background fodder i was hoping to find in order to get a good angle on this for writing up an article!!

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Can't wait to read your article...

Here's more info; the links below are already added to Visa research re Scientology

Finally tracked down the old R-1 visa regulations, from the Immigration Act of 1990:

Pub. L. 101-649 Immigration Act of 1990

Here are the entire, original 1990 regulations for R-1 visas (2 sections):

and

The rest of the 1990 document can be ignored, as nothing else was specifically applicable to R-1 visas.


...
This 14 page manual on Religious Workers was recently updated with the new R-1 regulations. It is much easier to read than the entire new regulations, and lists the date of the last current revision of each section. This is the document that foreign US Embassies use to examine R-1 visa applications, and is not just the USCIS regulations:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/87244.pdf

Comparing these current R-1 visa regulations to the old regulations above from 1990 shows that the US Government has proactively rewritten the regulations to crack down on fraud. Scientology can no longer use vague generalizations to fraudulently aquire R-1 visas.


...
Here's a 2006 manual issued by the Catholic Church. This is an example of how R-1 visas were correctly used by a legitimate church, as a comparision to Scientology's fraudulant use of R-1 visas.

http://counsel.cua.edu/immigration//religious.pdf

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

In 2003, Scientology sued the US Attorney General, and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, because a Religious Worker (I-360) petition for a foreign Scientology staff member was denied:

NEW LAWSUIT: Church of Scientology of Los Angeles v. Ashcroft et al

The Polish Scientologist had been ordered to be deported in 1997, because his Religious Worker application was denied by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service:

Deportation Order for Michael Pociej from April 23rd, 1997

I don't know the outcome of the lawsuit, maybe some OG know the details. It might be useful to compare the legal pit bull tactics of Scientology with the helpful Catholic guide posted earlier.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

it'll be after new year's... i got another project to get out of the way first and then i'll be all over this for my blog if nobody else has published anything formally by then.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Your blog Hitchhiker's Guide to the Anon Galaxy has a ton of well written info.

Looks like I'll be signing off here till after the new year, will be with friends and family for Christmas and New Year.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Hah! How to win friends and influence people ---- sue their asses, when they are the same people who could be APPROVING YOUR VISA APPLICATIONS. And do it over a single Polish slave.

Scientology is such a big asshole. You don't make friends wielding big sticks, Mr. Miscavige!

P.S. The Polish dude has a Scientologist Online website in which he says he arrived in the USA in 1989 and was working self-employed in a non-technical non-skilled job. So... how the hell does he qualify for a religious worker visa? Oh yeah, I forgot. He wasn't. He couldn't be, because religious worker visas weren't invented until 1990. Oh, I suppose he got one then, which he had up to 5 years. Then he was "out of status" and should have left the country. But he didn't. SO HE WAS DEPORTABLE.

Scientology then tries for another 7 years (1996-2003) to "save him" and keep him in the country.

Fucking Scientologists!

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

ahhh yummy yummy relevant infos from the http://forums.whyweprotest.net/123-leaks-legal/sea-org-training-manual-34744/ thread:

From: Sea Org Training Manual, pg 19 - "Welcome to Sea Org" lrh bat shi- insane commodore Tape Transcript: 6910C16. emphasis mine...

Administrative - not fking VOCATIONAL.

Administrative = secular you rat bastard scilons. by your own policies defining your elite upper level of ministers... sea org aint nothing more than floating under-paid work force dedicated to commercial support, NOT spiritual vocational work!!!!

/rant

here's hoping the sea org training manual shows up on wikileaks in near future. now 'xcuse me while i go fap to the thought of harpooning the soft underbelly beast right where it hurts the mostness.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Sorry I missed this. Francie is right: the cult has been getting name changes on children and teens left in the care of "guardians" here in C'water while their parents are carted off to work elsewhere for a while now. Another way for the cult to bring about a sense of hopelessness for these foreign kids.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

USCIS has really thought about this. Nice to see. And great work from our two Anons!

And another quotation from the "Welcome to the Sea Org Manual", at page 37 of 96:

"Why the Sea Org is Successful", Lecture 17 October 1969, re-published 1990

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

I just randomly chose the last file listed, 071005, and came across this on page 5:

Scilons are ever predictable.
Do they think anyone is impressed by obvious BS????

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

A quick summary of what the heck AAO decisions are. A church / religious organisation files an R-1 Religious Worker Visa application. If the R-1 visa application is accepted, then end of story, the foreigner can be brought into the US.

However, if the R-1 application is rejected, then the church can file a petion with the Admistrative Appeals Office (AAO) to reconsider; the church normally supplies additional information in the appeal, to try to get the R-1 visa application approved. The AAO then reviews and decides what to do with the appeal: accept it, reject it, or remand it for further information and consideration.

I got tired of using Google and USCIS web site to try to find these CofS related decisions. Both Google and USCIS web site searches miss quite a few (almost half) of the AAO decisions related to scientology. So I bypassed search engines and got my hands on the entire AAO R-1 appeals decision database. The database is from 2000 to September 30, 2008 (when the old R-1 regulations expired).

Total number of AAO decisions was 3,212. Out of these, there were 110 decisions relating to Scientology.

The 110 Scientology decisions can be broken down into the following categories:

49 approved
42 denied
17 remanded (sent back to the Director for further consideration)
2 remanded again (sent back a second time to the Director for further consideration)


Here's the raw numbers for the AAO Religious Worker visa appeals decisions, broken down by year:

===============

2000

6 total decisions

zero CofS decisions

===============

2001

188 total decisions

zero CofS decisions

===============

2002

94 total decisions

1 CofS decision:

1 denied

===============

2003

535 total decisions

1 CofS decision:

1 denied

===============

2004

484 total decisions

7 CofS decisions:

4 denied
3 remanded

===============

2005

1,309 total decisions

51 CofS decisions:

22 approved
14 denied
13 remanded
2 remanded again

===============

2006

221 total decisions

43 CofS decisions:

25 approved
17 denied
1 remanded

================

2007

248 total decisions

7 CofS decisions:

2 approved
5 denied

================

2008 (up through September 30)

127 total decisions

zero CofS decisions

================

Once all the info is sorted out and organized, Visa research re Scientology will get updated.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

If you have never read any of these appeals decisions, try randomly picking one that was denied and one that was approved.

2002

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2002/JUN212002_05C1101.pdf / denied

2003

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2003/AUG212003_23C1101.pdf / denied

2004

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/AUG022004_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/AUG162004_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/AUG162004_04C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/SEP092004_01C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/SEP092004_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/SEP132004_06C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2004/OCT082004_06C1101.pdf / remanded

2005

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR012005_03C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR012005_09C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR172005_08C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR172005_25C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR252005_02C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/MAR252005_04C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/AUG162005_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/AUG162005_09C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/SEP162005_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/SEP162005_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/SEP282005_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/SEP282005_06C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV102005_01C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV102005_02C1101.pdf / 2nd remand

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV102005_05C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV102005_06C1101.pdf / 2nd remand

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV142005_06C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV142005_13C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV182005_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV182005_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_05C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_07C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_08C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_09C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV212005_11C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_04C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_06C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_07C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_08C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_09C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_10C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/NOV232005_12C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC022005_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC022005_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC132005_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC132005_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC162005_13C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC162005_26C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_01C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_02C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_03C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_11C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_12C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC222005_13C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC232005_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC232005_04C1101.pdf / denied

2006

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN092006_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN102006_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN172006_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN172006_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN172006_05C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN172006_08C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN202006_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN202006_05C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN202006_10C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN202006_11C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN232006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN232006_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN232006_04C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JAN232006_05C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/FEB032006_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/FEB032006_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/FEB032006_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/FEB032006_04C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Feb212006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Mar032006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Mar072006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Mar302006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Mar302006_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Mar302006_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Apr102006_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May032006_01C1101.pdf / remanded

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May032006_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May082006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May102006_02C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May102006_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May152006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/May242006_03C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JUN022006_04C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/JUN022006_08C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/AUG092006_09C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/AUG092006_19C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Aug112006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Aug292006_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Oct102006_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Oct102006_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Oct112006_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Oct172006_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2006/Nov022006_03C1101.pdf / denied

2007

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Jan242007_02C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Jan242007_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Jan242007_04C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Mar282007_01C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Apr252007_03C1101.pdf / denied

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Jun012007_01C1101.pdf / approved

http://www.uscis.gov/err/C1 - Religious Worker/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Aug292007_01C1101.pdf / approved



3 visa petitions that were not in the Religious Worker visa category:

NOTE, this visa petition was for “Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers” visa category. It was approved.
http://www.uscis.gov/err/B6 - Skill...ecisions_Issued_in_2005/SEP302005_01B6203.pdf

NOTE, this visa petition was for “Members of the Professions holding Advanced Degrees or Aliens of Exceptional Ability” visa category. It was denied.
http://www.uscis.gov/err/B5 - Membe...ecisions_Issued_in_2005/DEC232005_02B5203.pdf

NOTE, this visa petition was for “Temporary Worker Performing Nonagricultural Labor or Services” visa category. It was denied.
http://www.uscis.gov/err/D4 - Tempo...ecisions_Issued_in_2007/Oct052007_02D4101.pdf

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Wow, that's a lot of tl;dr.

If someone could take time to read the "rejected" ones, and see exactly what caused the rejection, then we'd have more ways to hit.

Such as these phrases from one: "The beneficiary's membership in the Sea Org does not give her license to work for an avowedly secular employer [ABLE, as shown on her W2], while claiming immigration benefits as a religious worker."

And: "We find that past employment at a secular organization cannot constitute qualifying experience to fulfill the two-year experience requirement, and the prospect of future employment at a secular organization cannot amount to a qualifying job offer. Because both the Church of Scientology and ABLE itself describe ABLE as a secular organization, we cannot find that the beneficiary's past or intended future work at ABLE qualify the beneficiary for classification as a special immigrant religious worker. The pursuit of secular work at a secular institution such as ABLE is not a religious vocation, whether or not a given employee belongs to a religious order such as the Sea Org."

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

This one is pretty obvious.........

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Thanks OTBT for your explanation!

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Cult has an interesting way of defining missionary work:

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Already on my want-to-do list, but easier said than done. It took quite a while to aquire the entire R-1 appeals database, and then sort through 3,000+ files to find the 100+ files relating to Scilons. One thing accomplished was identifying each scientology-related decision as to whether they were accepted, denied or remanded.

Eventually, I would like to work up a tl;dr for each file, but its time consuming. Some of these files are low quality scans, so searching can be tedious; some words or letters are obscured or blacked out. To help anyone else that wants to scour these files, these are the key words I used to search the documents to find scilon-related files in the AAO Religious Worker database:

sea org
sciento (for variations on the word ”scientology” - such as scientologist)
scientology
dianetic (for variations on the word “dianetics” – such as dianetic auditing)
dianetics
hubbard
hubb
auditor
CSI (case sensitive search, to filter out words like ‘facsimile’)
ABLE (case sensitive search)
flag
billion
fraternal
freewind
study tech

Also, some files have been removed from the AAO database, and I am trying to track down these files.

Regardless, in October 2008, the old regulations expired, and the new, much tougher regulations came into effect. Looks like we will have to wait at least a few months for the new AAO decisions regarding petitions under the new regulations.

Happy to see others wading through this legal wall of text. Hopefully, unearthing these documents is an unexpected headache for scilons.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

OTBT you are mah hero. Cool shit bro.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Thank you so much, OTBT.


A reminder to any of our legislators who may stroll through here....

AMENDMENT XIII Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.


Section 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

A related thread over on OCMB. There are a couple scilon trolls trying to distract and derail the discussion, but there are some excellent government links that were dug up

Operation Clambake Message Board :: View topic - Human Trafficking in scientology

such as this

Electronic Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons - Index

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

How many site inspectors will USCIS be hiring?

Looks like scilons will not be importing new foreign sea org slave labor any time soon (California is the main USCIS Service Center). And any appeals might not be decided by AAO until 2010.

https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplay.do?type=serviceCenter

/ obviously this one has not been updated yet

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

I thought I read somewhere in the last few weeks that it is the California processing center which will handle all Religious Visa applics from here on out.

The USCIS website uses cookies or something, and cut/pasting a URL doesn't often work. Here's a simple starting point URL: Click here for Processing times chart

EDIT/UPDATE: Oh... it was the I-360 religious worker applications, not the original R-1 visa applications, that were transfered to the Calif Service Center.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Finally, here is a plain English overview of the new R-1 Religious Worker visa regulations. This is by far the easiest explanation, along with comparision of the old regulations to the new regulations; it is very well written:

http://www.visalaw.com/ABCs_R-1Visas.pdf

The ABC?S Of Immigration: R-1 Religious Worker Visas (HTML version)

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Here are the brand new USCIS forms which Scientology will have to fill out, to try to import foreign Sea Org members. These include the changes from the new R-1 visa regulations.

Form I-129 is used for non-immigrant workers, and form I-130 is used for immigrant workers.

Scientology will typically file both forms at the same time. I-129 is good for a maximum of 5 years.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-129.pdf

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-360.pdf

A sample of some of the information that is now required on the "Religious Worker" section of the new forms under the new regulations:

Lots more info is required, see links above for the full documents.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

OSA complained earlier to USCIS that there were many backlogged applications for foreign Sea Org members requesting Religious Worker visas. It looks like any pending application will now have to be re-submitted, and follow the new R-1 regulations:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/SpecialImmigrantRWPetitionsOct1sunset91908.pdf

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Only in some cases will the applics have to be resubmitted with the new regulations. I see a few instances where the applics won't have to be resubmitted (per the document at the link above).

Also, the rules changed in April 08 (or earlier) and the old regulations/procedures were being held open until October 1st 2008 as the "Sunset date". That's a 6 month window. And most of the USCIS Service Centers were taking 6 months to do the religious worker visa work.

So most of the applications filed by Scientology WITHIN the six months prior to Oct 1, 08 should have been filed taking into consideration the new application procedures.

Ah hah! That also means a NEW learning curve for Scientology, as they work thru the kinks in the new system. They'd had a few years (and MANY appeals cases) to work out the kinks in the old system. Poor old Scientology. Not!

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

I just found the USCIS tl;dr version of the new R-1 regulations, its 3 pages long:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/religious_worker_factsheet_21nov08.pdf

The last paragraph in this doc:

Francie, according to this doc, any old applications that were not approved by October 1st will need to adhere to the new regulations.

Scientology now has submit much more information than before, and will now be subjected to repeated site inspections to check up on the status of both new and old Religious Workers. Gold base should be an interesting place for USCIS inspectors to legally snoop around

Has Miscavige thought about how to handle existing R-1 Sea Org staff being deported for non-compliance uncovered during site inspections?

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

What makes you think there will be any "deportable" staffers there when the inspectors show up? Remember the 8 people last seen heading west from NM (second chance)? Anybody find them yet?

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

The answer to your question is in this thread:

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/123-...change-address-foreign-sea-org-members-35364/

An excerpt, for reference:

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

restating a half formed question i mused early in this thread before we had our brains wrapped around it....

Will it be possible for the general public to get copies of the submitted applications via FOI requests????

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Not sure yet.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Scientology teaches its people almost nothing of value. If a worker came to the USA on a religious worker visa, I would be sure to include a meeting with them to alert them to the requirements of their visa by USCIS and how to avoid problems with their application. Since the visa goes with the person, there's no reason why the person himself/herself can't be the responsible party to ensure their visa does not expire nor do they violate the terms of their visa.

I might tell the person:

1) If you are re-assigned to another org or section or location, be sure to notify HCO (Scientology's closest thing to a Human Resources Dept) in your new org to notify USCIS of your new address and employer.

2) At date ________ in the future, be sure to check with HCO to make sure your R-1 Religious Worker Visa is still in force, and to apply for an extension.

3) At date ________ in the future, be sure to check with HCO to figure out what to do now that your R-1 Religious Worker visa is expiring.

Blah blah blah. I don't want to write no fucking "hat writeup" for Scientology. But my point here is that for an organization who claims they know the secrets of the universe, have the best-est Administrative Technology in the world, and are the most aware beings on the planet... these people don't know how to stay on the ball with something as simple as a visa.

And it really IS a simple thing, guys.

But nooooOOOOOoooooo... Scientology wants to treat its people like idiots and morons. They do the visa application for them, they take their passports from them, they do all the visa extension and modification paperwork for them and probably don't even tell the person what they are doing, including applying for an IMMIGRANT visa when the person came over on a temporary (up to 5 years) nonimmigrant visa. They want their Sea Org member with their head down, eyes on the grindstone, with no worry whatsoever about their "legal status" in the USA.

Can we spell Human Trafficking, fellas?

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Scientology -will- find a way around it. America's all about money and they have a dickload of it.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Not if we and the DHS stay on top of it.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Remotely possible, but unlikely. Here is the FOI request form:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/g-639.pdf

If you read some of the AAO decisions, names and personal information is always blacked out:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/FOIAProcessing022807FS.pdf

Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts (FOIA)

Its possible that someone who can physically go to the USCIS Public reading room in Washington DC may be able to find names. But more the likely, the names and personal info is already blacked out.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

i wouldnt so much be interested in the names as i would the job description / job title /employment details. the employment reason they need shipped in.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Press release issued by USCIS on January 5th 2009. A couple of the questions and answers:

Supplemental Questions and Answers: Final Religious Worker Rule Effective November 26, 2008

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Unfortunately, it looks very unlikey to get access to this information. Here's a link for Records Request:

About Record Requests

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

thks- i have it saved.

i'm thinking... alot of federal record keeping systems roll data/docs over in quarterly batches, and this deal being so new its gonna take awhile till new employees huired and whatnot. so i got a a calendar reminder set for April 1st to go a fishing down the foi trail of possible longshots and see what we can find out then.

Re: US Government enacts revised regulations to reduce Religious Worker Visa fraud

Good idea.

You can check for new AAO decisions here:

Administrative Decisions

go to C1 - Religious Worker, then go to Decisions issued in 2008 (which abruptly ends on September 30th)

there is also a link for USCIS press releases:

Press Room