Shalom Pentecostal Church v. Sec'y, Dep't of Homeland Sec., No. 13-4434 (3d Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseAlencar, a Brazilian national, travelled to the U.S. on a B-2 nonimmigrant tourist visa in 1995. He has remained in the country unlawfully since the visa expired. Alencar was not authorized to work under visa, nor did he otherwise obtain employment authorization. Alencar has been seeking legal immigration status as a special immigrant religious worker since 1997. Despite rejection of his I-360 petitions, Alencar has been working as pastor for the Shalom Pentecostal Church since 1998. The petition at issue was filed by the Church on Alencar’s behalf in 2009. USCIS denied the petition, finding that the Church failed to establish, under newly promulgated 8 C.F.R. 204.5(m)(4) and (11), that Alencar had been “performing full-time work in lawful immigration status as a religious worker for at least the two-year period immediately preceding the filing.” The USCIS Appeals Office dismissed an appeal. The district court granted summary judgment, invalidating the Regulation, finding that the statutory language was unambiguous and that the Regulation’s addition of the “lawful status” requirement was inconsistent with the statute, and ordered USCIS to grant Alencar’s petition. The Third Circuit affirmed as to the invalidity of the regulation but remanded for further fact-finding on the remaining visa criteria.
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