USCIS has published a memorandum that provides instructions to Immigration Service Officers responsible for adjudicating R-1 Religious Worker nonimmigrant petitions. The memorandum outlines the procedures that should be taken to recapture time spent outside the U.S. by R-1 nonimmigrants seeking an extension of status. The guideline applies to all pending and new R-1 petitions filed with USCIS.
Current USCIS guidance allows H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrants to recapture time spent outside of the U.S. when calculating their maximum period of authorized stay. This memorandum now extends that same policy to the R-1 nonimmigrant classification. Further, USCIS states that the spouse and minor child of an R-1 nonimmigrant who has recaptured time spent outside of the U.S. may receive periods of R-2 stay that are in parallel to those received by their R-1 counterpart.
Read the full memorandum at http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2012/March/R-1_Recapture_%20AFM_Update_3-8-12.pdf
