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Our family (3 over 18, 4 under 18) is planning to move to Mexico to work long-term as volunteers setting up a church/mission/community work. We are New Zealand citizens.

We will be part supported/sponsored by a church in the USA and we'll need to be able to travel regularly to the USA from Mexico to attend church and other meetings, as well as shopping/R&R etc.

Are we likely to qualify for a US Religious Visa even though we will be living in Mexico. The work has the potential to be conducted on either side of the border initially until we're fully set up.

If not a Religious Visa, then what would be our best option?

We have been told that a tourist visa is probably not the best option if we are receiving any money from the US (in the way of donated support rather than paid income).

I have posted a similar question regarding Mexico Visas here - What Visa do we need for Mexico as New Zealanders?

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Midavalo
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1 Answers1

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If you're just attending meetings, you should be able to enter in B1 or B2 status using the Visa Waiver Program. If you want to stay for more than 90 days at a time, you would need to get a B1/B2 visa, which is the normal visitor visa.

Source: https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit/visitor.html

More detail: https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-visitors-business/b-1-temporary-business-visitor

The R visa for religious workers is for those who will be employed in the US. If your work is in Mexico and you're only attending occasional meetings in the US, you'd be considered to be employed in Mexico. If, on the other hand, you'll be spending a good amount of time doing work in the US for which you are receiving a salary, I expect you'd need an R visa.

Source: https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/other/religious.html

phoog
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  • The majority of our work ( > 90% ) will be in Mexico, but we can't rule out spending periods of time in the US for work purposes, although I see this being mostly for meetings, training, conferences. – Midavalo Mar 24 '16 at 22:06
  • We have been told that we couldn't use the Visa Waiver after the initial 90 days as entering Mexico does not re-set the 90 days on this. We wouldn't want to be seen as trying to work around the Visa/Visa-Waiver rules – Midavalo Mar 24 '16 at 22:07
  • @Midavalo meetings, trainings, conferences are allowable in B1 status. I've added another link. – phoog Mar 24 '16 at 22:08
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    @Midavalo if you are resident in Mexico, you can still use the VWP. The rule about not resetting the clock by going to a nearby country does not apply to residents of that country. See for example http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/5922/90-day-rule-on-the-us-visa-waiver-program-not-expiring-if-you-go-to-canada – phoog Mar 24 '16 at 22:10
  • that is an interesting comment regarding being resident of Mexico - we are looking at our requirements there also, and perhaps that is the path we need to go down for Mexico – Midavalo Mar 24 '16 at 22:11
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    @Midavalo for this purpose "resident" would include people living there temporarily on some sort of visa, so no matter what your status is, you should be fine. – phoog Mar 24 '16 at 22:12
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    @Midavalo I would add that to live in Mexico for more than 6 months you must become a temporary resident there, and will have a resident card proving that status if you need to. A US visa doesn't help at all with respect to living in Mexico and isn't required of a citizen of a visa waiver country for visits to the US from your country of residence, so I'm also pretty sure it would serve no purpose to get one if what you are being paid for is your work in Mexico. – Dennis Mar 30 '16 at 21:38
  • thanks @Dennis - we were told (not officially) that we would probably need a visa for USA even though we're from visa waiver country due to the fact we don't have outbound plans from North America (USA + Canada & Mexico) within 90 days of US entry. This is now the one thing we're finding hardest to verify as the US consulate here won't give Visa requirement advice but I don't want to spend $1000+ to apply for visas we don't need – Midavalo Mar 31 '16 at 19:16
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    @Midavalo that is generally true if you reside outside of North America, but if you are a resident of Mexico then travel to Mexico terminates your US trips. The 90 day total rule will still apply if you, say, transit the US from Mexico to visit Canada, but your trip is done once you are back in Mexico. I'd avoid the US visa unless absolutely necessary for something since having one that allows long term residence in the US might create expectations concerning whether, or how, you should to file a US tax return which would be better to clearly avoid. – Dennis Apr 01 '16 at 18:06
  • @Dennis tax residency is generally determined without reference to immigration status. – phoog Apr 02 '16 at 00:56
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    @Midavalo see http://travel.stackexchange.com/a/66635/19400 for a brief discussion of the 90-day rule; in your case you'd obviously substitute "Mexico" for "Canada." – phoog Apr 14 '16 at 20:46