US bishops support bipartisan law to retain foreign religious workers

Several bishops in the United States are praising a proposed bipartisan effort to keep religious workers in the country – including Catholic priests – by the extension of their special visas, instead of sending them back to their countries of origin for prolonged periods.

For months, Catholic leaders have warned about an imminent crisis, in which many priests based in the US would be forced to abandon their ministries and return to their countries of origin, after which they would be subject to long waiting before they could return.

A change in visa standards in 2023 generated an accumulation of applicants that threatens to prevent priests from obtaining permanent residence (Green Card) before their initial visa of religious worker expires.

This delay was generated when the State Department and the Department of National Security (DHS) increased the number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras requesting EB-4 visas, the special category used by religious workers.

Ecclesiastical authorities have warned that this accumulation could generate a serious shortage of priests in the country. The United States Catholic Bishop Conference (USCCB) said that, due to regulatory change, immigrants with five-year R-1 temporal visas could be forced to return to their countries and wait for many more years for a permanent EB-4 visa.

Visa reform “urgently necessary”

On Tuesday, a group of American senators, including Tim Kaine (Democrat by Virginia) and Susan Collins (Republican for Maine), presented the Religious Workforce Protection Actor Protection Law for the Religious Labor Force, which would allow immigrants with Visa R-1 “to remain in the US while waiting for permanent residence,” according to a press release from the Kaine office.

The proposed bill, which has only three pages, offers a “specific solution” to the imminent crisis of R-1, “granting the DHS secretary the authority to extend the temporal status R-1 beyond five years, until a decision is made on the application for permanent residence”.

The measure was praised by several American bishops, including Bishop Mark Seitz, of El Paso, Texas, president of the USCCB Migration Committee.

“We applaud this bipartisan effort, which recognizes the importance of religious workers born abroad for communities throughout the country,” said Mons. Seitz in a statement. “Without them, many Americans would remain without the essential religious and social services they provide.”

Bishop Barry Knestout, from Richmond, Virginia, said the diocese has “depended on missionary priests around the world” since its foundation in 1820.

“The loss of a reliable clergy member due to little practical migratory restrictions, aggravated by important visas delays, deeply affects the free exercise of the religious life of our parishioners,” said Mons. Knestout, who celebrated that the proposed legislation helps to “relieve the burden on our parishioners, our parishes and the entire diocese of Richmond.”

Bishops Earl Fernandes, from Columbus, Ohio, and James Ruggieri, from Portland, Maine, also praised the legislation. Mons. Ruggieri described her as “urgently necessary”, while Mons. Fernandes said he will allow “many of our priests and religious to continue serving the people of God and our local communities through their ministry.”

A similar measure was presented on Tuesday at the US House of Representatives.

In November 2024, the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Mons. Jerome Listecki, joined several dioceses to request the Federal Government to address the accumulation of EB-4 visas applications.

In 2023, the USCCB Migration Committee joined an interreligious letter that warned the Government about the “growing difficulties to provide staff with places of worship, community centers, schools, charity works and other spaces” as a result of the change in the norms.

The letter asked the Government to “do everything within its reach to preserve significant access” to visas for religious workers.

Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published in CNA.