DHS unveils new policy to help pastors amid religious worker visa backlog

The Trump administration has implemented a new policy designed to address the plight of foreign religious workers forced to return home after their temporary visas expire amid a backlog in applications for permanent residency in the United States. 

In a statement last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it had issued an interim final rule designed to expedite the return of foreign religious workers who were forced to leave the U.S. or chose to self-deport before their visas expired. Under the previous system, religious workers who were in the U.S. on an R-1 visa were required to return to their home countries for one year after being allowed to reside in the U.S. for five years. 

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Although R-1 visa holders are still required to return to their home countries when their five-year limit expires, the interim final rule makes it so that there is “no longer a minimum period of time" they must reside outside of the U.S. before being allowed to return on an R-1 status. R-1 visa holders include priests, rabbis and nuns. 

“Under the leadership of Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS is committed to protecting and preserving freedom and expression of religion. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure religious organizations can continue delivering the services that Americans depend on,” said a DHS spokesperson. “Pastors, priests, nuns, and rabbis are essential to the social and moral fabric of this country. We remain committed to finding ways to support and empower these organizations in their critical work.” 

DHS attributed the backlog in the R-1 visa renewal process, which has forced foreign religious workers to return home and leave churches and religious establishments in the U.S., to policies implemented by the Biden administration in 2023. “Changes implemented by the Department of State in 2023 significantly increased the already lengthy wait times for immigrant visas in the EB-4 category for aliens from foreign countries, including for religious workers,” the agency explained.

According to DHS, “These delays have caused many religious workers to exhaust their maximum period of stay in R-1 status. By eliminating the one-year foreign residency requirement, USCIS is reducing the time religious organizations are left without their trusted clergy and non-ministerial workers.” 

As explained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, EB-4 visas enable foreign religious workers to reside in the U.S. permanently. By contrast, the R-1 visas are designed to be temporary. 

The interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on Friday. From there, the public will have 60 days to comment. 

The Christian Post previously reported on the case of Albert Oliveira, a Brazilian-born pastor who was negatively affected by the EB-4 backlog that the changes to the R-1 visa policy were designed to address. Oliveira, a Brazilian native whose R-1 visa was set to expire last November, told CP that he planned to leave the country even though doing so would leave First Baptist Church in Gordon, Texas, without a pastor being physically present. 

Oliveira said he planned to continue leading the church remotely by “preaching via livestream, joining meetings through video calls, and otherwise being part of this church’s life as much as possible until we can return, God willing.”

Oliveira’s time in the U.S. dated back to 2011, when he arrived on an F-1 student visa to study intercultural missions and psychology. After earning a master’s degree in missiology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he assumed his current role as pastor of First Baptist Church Gordon in 2020. 

First Baptist Church Gordon’s website still lists Oliveira as the pastor and includes a page encouraging the passage of the Religious Workforce Protection Act. While it doesn't explicitly name Oliveira, the church cites his story as an example of why the legislation must pass: “Imagine a beloved pastor or missionary who has served your church for five years — building relationships, preaching, counseling, mentoring, and leading outreach.” 

“Just as their ministry is bearing fruit, they are forced to leave the country. That’s the reality under current law,” First Baptist Church Gordon lamented. The church noted that “the Religious Workforce Protection Act (H.R. 2672/S. 1298) would remove the arbitrary five-year limit and allow these religious workers to continue their ministry without being forced to leave.” 

Introduced by Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, the bill has 31 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives: 20 Democrats and 11 Republicans. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced the Senate version of the bill, which has seven cosponsors: five Republicans and two Democrats. The measure has not been brought up for a vote in either chamber.