United States Department of State

“ Although the new law allowed these 12 religious societies to retain their status, it imposed new criteria on other churches that seek to achieve the status, including a 10-year waiting period between the time of the application and the time it is granted.
The January 1998 law allows nonrecognized religious groups to seek official status as confessional communities without the fiscal and educational privileges available to recognized religions. To apply groups must have 300 members and submit to the Government their written statutes describing the goals, rights, and obligations of members ”

“ Approximately 2 percent of the population belong to nonrecognized "other faiths," while 8.64 percent consider themselves atheists. Four percent did not indicate a religious affiliation. Only about 17 percent of Roman Catholics actively participate in formal religious services. ”

“ The Embassy's consular section has worked for years to broker a visa/work solution for American religious workers who belong to nonrecognized groups. These groups lack official status to sponsor workers from outside the European Economic area (European Union countries plus Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland) . ”

“ Although in the past nonrecognized religious groups have had problems obtaining resident permits for foreign religious workers, administrative procedures adopted in 1997 have addressed this problem in part.
The Government funds religious instruction in public schools and churches for children belonging to any of the 12 officially recognized religions. ”