Comment Submitted by Himanshu R. Francis, Lexington International Family Church

1. Since R1 religious workers come from other countries it is observed that it is mainly to minister to immigrant communities religion plays an important part not only in the church but also at family life and at the place of work, business or school. Originally I am from India and in my observation no business opens in India without the ritual of prayer and dedication in the morning. No entrance in the new home or new business without the priest and the ritual of dedication. No birthday, wedding or anniversary celebration takes place without the priest. No train or bus starts without the driver first doing the prayer of dedication hence the priest and his spouse play an important part among the immigrant communities. The ladies of the congregation feel very insecure if the spouse of the priest is not present for the ritual hence I strongly recommend as R1 is granted to the religious worker his spouse should be granted work permit according to the validity of the principle visa holder hence the spouse should also be allowed to get a drivers license, children under 21 should be able to go to schools or colleges without any hindrances and should receive SS numbers and IRS tax benefits. It is my observation that immigrant communities always bless the priest and his spouse with finances in these days where both husband and wife have to work it will be wisdom to grant work permit and this way fraud and tax evasion can be avoided and husband and wife can fully and whole heartedly minister and congregation can benefit total benefit of the ministry. 2. The validity of the R1 initially should not be one year but should be 3 years this will save unnecessary extra paperwork and financial burden. Immigration should work in cooperation of DMV and DMV while issuing ID card or DL should mark on the DL itself the words authorized to work till validity of license. If initially only one year is granted it will put insecurity and therefore produce uneasiness and therefore affect productivity. 3. The minister of religious worker is not limited only within the church building but also to prison, hospitals, schools rehabilitation centers and to the struggling homes and businesses because religion plays an important part at a work place and businesses ministers have to make themselves available when national calamities play havoc thru earthquakes, flood, fire and tragedies hence ministers that work at the market place are called clergies or chaplains. There is a great need of grief counseling at the market places. Many church are holding their Sunday worship services at hotels and motels, 65% of the hotels are owned by immigrants, immigrants own 50% for gas stations and convenience stores, 45% of dry cleaners are owned by immigrants. Many hotel owners have requested us with 24/7 Chaplaincy services. Many a businessmen desire to be sponsors to the churches and its mission and have requested us that we hold every morning and evening vespers, prayer assembly for their businesses and staff and for the traveling public so that the cliental is blessed everyday these businesses are willing to provide counseling and prayer rooms just as they are made available at airports many malls and businesses are willing to provide rooms for prayers and anointing so my suggestion is religious workers called chaplains who speak 2 or more languages should be allowed to minister at market places any businesses that request in writing chaplaincy services and sign a contract should be allowed to employ chaplains. These chaplains will be paid by the non profit corporation and businesses can make payments to the non profit org (church) in order to avoid fraud and misuse of visas it will be wisdom that this information maybe inscribed in to the law each business should declare that chaplaincy services are available. 4. In theses days of technology even thru the search engines you can know the location of non profit church and thru 941 IRS documents the ability of the church can be know instantly hence premium processing should be restored for I360 and R1 and there will be no need of physical inspection every time the church petitions for a religious worker. All R1 petition should be done within the country and approved by the Dept of State. If any religious workers leaves and breaks the contract the employer should report the concerned authorities. 5. Because of the increased influx of immigrants when there is a death of a loved one in a foreign country or an emergency occurs as per social wing of the church we are required to respond to meet emergencies of the families and the businesses hence like mother Teresa chaplains can be appointed by the non profit cooperation to manage the home and business for 2 -6 weeks depending upon the emergency.