{"id":186,"date":"2009-05-18T19:58:11","date_gmt":"2009-05-19T01:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2009-05-18T19:58:11","modified_gmt":"2009-05-19T01:58:11","slug":"us-department-of-state-lists-eight-countries-as-religious-freedom-violators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"US Department of State Lists Eight Countries as Religious Freedom Violators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On May 11, 2009 the US Department of State designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran,  North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as &#8220;countries of  particular concern&#8221; for religious freedom violations.\u00a0 While this determination was made in connection with any immigration laws, it can be used to support certain types of immigration petitions where the applicant has suffered religious persecution.<\/p>\n<p>Religious persecution can be an element of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.messersmithlaw.com\/green-card\/political-asylum.html\" target=\"_blank\">political asylum<\/a> petition, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.messersmithlaw.com\/work-visa\/j1-waiver.html\" target=\"_blank\">j-1 visa waiver<\/a> petition as well a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.messersmithlaw.com\/visas\/removal-deportation.html\" target=\"_blank\">defense to removal (deportation)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full report <a href=\"http:\/\/edocket.access.gpo.gov\/2009\/pdf\/E9-10970.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On May 11, 2009 the US Department of State designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as &#8220;countries of particular concern&#8221; for religious freedom violations.\u00a0 While this determination was made in connection with any immigration laws, it can be used to support certain types of immigration petitions where the applicant &#8230; <a title=\"US Department of State Lists Eight Countries as Religious Freedom Violators\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=186\" aria-label=\"Read more about US Department of State Lists Eight Countries as Religious Freedom Violators\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,42,27,41],"tags":[194,193,179],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancellation-of-removal","category-deportation","category-j-1-visa-waiver","category-removal","tag-cancellation-of-removal","tag-deportation","tag-j-1-visa-waiver"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.8 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On May 11, 2009 the US Department of State designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as &quot;countries of particular concern&#039;&#039; for religious freedom violations. 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