This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill to prevent the abrupt departure of foreign-born religious workers from faith communities across the nation due to visa backlogs.
Under present law, religious workers on R1 visas are limited to five years of stay. If they haven’t secured permanent residency within that time frame, they must leave the United States for a year before reapplying (a problem that many churches currently face). Sponsored by Reps. Mike Carey (R-OH), Richard Neal (D-MA), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), and Pete Stauber (R-MN), and Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and James Risch (R-ID), the Religious Workforce Protection Act would allow religious workers on R1 visas to continue their ministry while awaiting permanent residency.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, issued a letter calling on legislators to support this bicameral, bipartisan initiative: “In the Catholic context, these workers include priests, men and women in religious orders and congregations, and other laypersons serving in a wide range of ministries. Some parishes, especially those in rural or isolated areas, would go without regular access to the Sacraments, if not for these religious workers. Additionally, dioceses with large immigrant populations rely on foreign-born religious workers for their linguistic and cultural expertise.”