R1 visa holder - interesting story/problem

[thoroughbredsdoc 0]

Hi, I am a British citizen who went to University in USA and now work in the USA. I have been working as a sports coach on an O-1A visa for the past 5 years. With the O1-A visa I have to reapply in one year increments (a bit of a hassle to be honest!). Without going into too much detail I have maintained the same job, got a couple of promotions within the organization and have paid my taxes etc... Anyway... this Christmas I went back to UK as I usually do and had my visa interview at the embassy... But when I received my passport back from them a few days later they had changed my status to R1 (Religious) and handed me a 5 year visa. They also changed my previous 4 visas (in my passport) to reflect R1. In theory this is great (I want to live in the US, love it here and love my job, so a five year visa is better than a one year visa)... but I am definitely not a religious worker. The only thing that comes close in the check list is that I do work for a non profit organization (sports club). Now, I had intended on my O1 visa to apply for a green card this year, and I understand that I also can do that on an R1... but the problem is that I have read they may do site visits to check out the religious entity the person works at. I am completely baffled as to why they changed my status, and previous status'. Any ideas?

[Ms Hogan 295]

It certainly sounds like an error on the processing side and not one I would want to take a risk with. I'm not speaking with any expertise, just some common sense. I would be wanting to know how/why it happened and correct if necessary so as to not have any problems down the road.

[TBoneTX 43,059]

*** Thread moved from "AOS from WS&T Visas" main forum to the UK regional subforum, for possible country-specific insights. ***

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Use the visa contact form to email and ask your question. http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/visa_contact_form.html

Tick the reason-- not covered on the website. That is the best way to get a decent answer from London. Print and document all your correspondence in a file for any difficulties down the road.

Tell them you do work for a 501( c)(3) organization, but it is not a religious organization and you are concerned that someone made a mistake by changing the category you applied for to Religious Worker.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Nich-Nick

[thoroughbredsdoc 0]

Thank you so much. I will do that.

[Pheebs1201 269]

Interesting problem! Let us know how it pans out, I'd be interested to learn more...