Wisconsin archbishop urges change to visa rule that could force foreign priests to leave U.S.

CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2024 / 18:15 pm

A Wisconsin archbishop is asking the federal government to change a new visa rule that has created a backlog in visa applications, with the archbishop warning that the new rule could force foreign priests to return to their home countries and create a priest shortage in the U.S.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee alone hosts two dozen immigrant priests, Archbishop Jerome Listecki said this week, and Catholics in Wisconsin are at risk of losing their services if the visa rule is allowed to stay in place.

A 2023 change to U.S. visa rules created a backlog of visa applicants that prevents priests from obtaining a green card before their initial religious worker visa expires. The backlog was created when the State Department and Department of Homeland Security increased the number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who are applying for EB-4 visas, the special visa category used by religious workers.

Church officials have warned that the backlog could lead to significant priest shortages in the country, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stating that, due to the rule change, immigrants on temporary five-year R-1 visas could be forced to return home and wait many more years for a permanent EB-4 visa.

Five immigrant priests in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, sued the federal government in August, arguing that the government’s reorganization of the visa process will require the priests to return to their own countries and then subject them to lengthy delays when reapplying for visas to serve in the U.S.

‘This issue affects our state and our country’

In a letter this week addressed to Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Listecki warned that the government’s visa changes “will deter all dioceses in the United States that currently rely on the support of international workers” and will “hamper the ability to carry out our religious mission in accordance with our nation’s founding principles.”

In the Tuesday letter, Listecki said the Milwaukee Archdiocese was joining the Dioceses of Madison, Green Bay, LaCrosse, and Superior in petitioning the government to rectify the backlog. 

“Dioceses across the United States” are experiencing similar difficulties with the visa program, the archbishop said. 

Listecki said the archdiocese currently counts 24 priests in its parishes who hold temporary worker visas, subjecting them to the “instability of this current law.” 

The priests not only serve at parishes but as hospital chaplains, the prelate said. There are also two foreign-born seminarians currently prepping for the priesthood in the archdiocese.

The archbishop urged Baldwin to work to address the looming difficulties, though he said the White House could unilaterally act to shorten the amount of time a religious worker must remain outside the U.S. before being permitted to return. That temporary solution could “provide meaningful relief” to the archdiocese, he said.

“This issue affects our state and our country,” the archbishop wrote.

The federal rules should be addressed “not only for the sake of religious workers and their employers but for the many American communities that rely upon them for a wide range of religious and social services,” he said.

In a Wednesday statement, the Diocese of Superior echoed the archbishop’s claims, arguing that the visa revisions “will have a negative impact on our parishes and local communities.”

The Superior Diocese “has struggled to ordain new priests to meet the growing number of retiring and ill priests,” the statement said. The diocese relies greatly on foreign-born priests to fill the gap.

The diocese said it was asking the federal government to “decrease the time required outside the United States” for the priests in question.

It further implored that “all those of faith and goodwill … contact their representatives regarding this important immigration issue.”

Last year the USCCB’s migration committee joined an interfaith letter warning the government of the “increased hardship in staffing houses of worship, community centers, schools, charitable works, and other sites” stemming from the rule change.

The letter asked the government to “do everything within your power to preserve meaningful access” for religious workers seeking visas.