Jan. 31, 2008, Grand Rapids, Mich. - The Christian Reformed Church in North America is facing a range of immigration-related issues that are making it difficult for some of its staff to move freely between the United States and Canada.
Given that the CRC is a bi-national denomination, with offices and churches in the U.S. and Canada, any restriction on cross-border travel makes it harder for the church to perform its ministries, CRC officials say.
Although the number of workers caught in this situation is small, church officials are concerned.
The difficulty appears to be linked to a crackdown by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on a special visa program that allows churches to bring foreign religious workers into the country.
After an investigation found numerous instances in which groups falsely claimed to be churches in order to get Religious Worker (R1) visas for their staff, Homeland Security agents started early in 2007 to more carefully scrutinize persons seeking approval or renewal of an R1 visa.
Federal officials now must investigate the claims of all R1 visa applicants, and this includes a site visit to the place where the worker is to be based, says Michelle De Bie, director of human resources for the CRC.
"They haven't made a site visit to us yet. I think part of the problem is that Homeland Security is so backlogged and our church is not on the top of their list," De Bie says.
One of those caught up in the process is Joyce Borger, music editor of Faith Alive Christian Resources, the CRC's publishing agency.
A Canadian citizen, Borger has been working in the U.S. since 2003, owns a house in Grand Rapids and has adopted a daughter. She applied more than a year ago to renew her R1 visa, in order to continuing working at the CRC office in Grand Rapids.
But her application was denied. De Bie says the CRC has hired an attorney from the law firm of Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids who has filed an appeal of the decision. Meanwhile, Borger is on leave from her job. "This has been very hard on me," Borger says. "There is little that I can do right now other than wait and pray."
The problem also affects pastors of CRC congregations who want to travel from the U.S. to another country or to move from Canada to work in the U.S. One pastor who left the U.S. to travel abroad was denied re-entry to the U.S. because his R1 visa had not been renewed.
The pastor, a Canadian citizen who works at a church in Grand Rapids, obtained help from his congressman. Homeland Security did a site visit to his church and his visa was renewed, he says.
Canadian Ed Witvoet was initially denied entry into the U.S. to work on the denomination's Sea to Sea bike tour - a cross-country bicycle trip to raise money to fight poverty.
"It was a very frustrating experience. It took some time to get this resolved," says Witvoet, operations and logistics manager for the Sea to Sea Tour. With the help of an attorney, he applied for and obtained a different type of visa that allows him to work in the U.S. as a consultant.
Other problems go beyond the R1 visa issue and don't just involve the United States. One CRC employee in the Grand Rapids office has found it difficult to cross into Canada to do the parts of her job there. She says she isn't sure why.
People from outside North America have also found it difficult to enter the U.S. to take part in CRC-related meetings and conferences. Several foreign pastors and worship leaders were denied approval to attend the 2008 Calvin Worship Symposium.
"We had several people who were denied and had to cancel their plans," says John Witvliet, director of the institute that hosted the symposium Jan. 24-26 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. "We have really had a problem this year, especially with people who wanted to come here from countries in the Middle East and parts of Africa."
De Bie says that she remains hopeful that restrictions will be eased, once again enabling staff to move freely between the U.S. and Canada.
-Chris Meehan, CRC Communications
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Henry Hess
Director of Communication
Christian Reformed Church
To learn more about the Christian Reformed Church visit us at www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org
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