“If this law does not get changed, we will be without the priests, and it will cause a lot of holes,” said Father James Proffitt, archdiocesan vicar for clergy. “This will impact the church’s ability to minister, especially in other languages. Finding non-native speakers is a real challenge. Some ministries just won’t be able to happen if we don’t have priests to fill the void.”
Father Proffitt noted that countries represented among the foreign-born priests serving in the archdiocese include Cameroon, Nigeria, Mexico, Uganda, Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Colombia and Italy.
In addition to parishes and schools, hospitals also rely on international priests as their chaplains because the archdiocese doesn’t have enough priests to assign to full-time hospital chaplaincy, Father Proffitt said. Some international priests also serve ethnic communities outside their assigned parishes.
Under U.S. immigration law, two types of visas are available for religious workers. The employment-based EB-4, or special immigrant religious worker, visa permits qualified religious workers to immigrate to the U.S on a permanent basis and to potentially become citizens. The R-1 visa, by contrast, allows religious workers to enter the country on a temporary basis and to perform services for up to five years.
However, in March 2023, the State Department announced a sudden change in the allocation of EB-4 visas, thereby significantly lengthening for most applicants the time required to qualify.
In an explanatory note about the revision on its website, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops observed, “One indirect impact of this change is that many more religious workers on a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) visa, who might otherwise have sought adjustment of status under the EB-4 category, will be forced to leave the United States upon reaching the maximum five-year period of stay allowed for an R-1 visa.”
In March, President Joe Biden extended the EB-4 non-minister special immigrant religious worker program through Sept. 30, although those entering the U.S. solely as ministers, along with their spouses and children, are not affected by the sunset date.
“Almost immediately after being ordained and getting their first pastoral assignment, the priests apply to get the R-1 visa,” Father Proffitt said. “This applies to both diocesan priests and external priests who are on loan to the archdiocese.”
Whereas priests with R-1 visas could previously apply for their green card within the five-year time frame, now there is a backlog. Some estimate it could take 10 years or more to get green cards. Once their R-1 visa expires, the priests would have to leave the country for 12 months until they can apply for a new visa.
“All the foreign priests, if they have not gotten a green card and do not have R-1 status, could be deported,” Father Proffitt said. One such priest is Father Kenneth Lukong, a native of Cameroon and associate pastor of Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland since July. He came to the United States in 2016 to attend St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park and was ordained in 2022.
Father Lukong has an R-1 visa which expires in April 2025.
“Going to my country now for one year would be hazardous to my parish ministry in myriad ways,” he said. “Firstly, it will affect the celebration of sacraments to a large population of parishioners who rely on me for spiritual sustenance. I celebrate approximately 10 Masses a week and the sacrament of confession to hundreds of people on a weekly basis.”
Father Lukong also celebrates baptism for infants and teaches catechism to adult parishioners. He is chaplain of the School of the Cathedral and also teaches a class.
“I say in very unequivocal terms that I feel terrible and sad to see such a change that affects a huge population of the United States, because this cannot be considered an oversight,” Father Lukong said. “I would say the government should reconsider this law because the negative consequences would outweigh any positive impact.”
The Diocese of Paterson, N.J., and five of its priests filed a lawsuit in August against the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services alleging that the alteration to the visa laws are unconstitutional and creating “profound immigration delays for noncitizen religious workers.”