TENNESSEE, USA, May 27, 2007: (HPI note: Many Hindus temples in America have priests who are on the R-1 visa, and these inspections will include those temples.) Methodist minister and Mexican citizen Carlos Uroza finds himself in legal limbo as he ministers to a growing Hispanic congregation at First United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro. Changes in federal policies regarding religious workers — priests, pastors and nuns from overseas invited to work by U.S. churches — have slowed his application to remain as Hispanic ministries pastor for another two years. His previous approval expired in October. And this year, there is far less certainty than in years past that he will automatically be allowed to stay. While Uroza remains legally in the U.S., his future lies with federal immigration authorities who are in the midst of a crackdown in how so-called “religious worker visas” are handled in response to allegations of widespread fraud in the program.
Tens of thousands of overseas clergy apply for the 10,000-11,000 religious worker visas that are issued each year, federal immigration officials say. A 2006 federal survey found a fraud rate of 33 percent among such applicants, most commonly from people claiming to work for a nonexistent U.S. religious institution. In response, the federal government is proposing to change the application process, requiring more paperwork from individual churches hiring the clergy and shortening a typical three-year stay to one year. Federal authorities say they have also begun surprise inspections at about 4,000 religious institutions that have hired overseas clergy. “I think (legitimate foreign clergy) are going to have to pay for others who are abusing the program,” said Nashville immigration lawyer Yvette Sebelist of Siskind Susser Bland, who has processed the “R-1” visas, as they’re known. “That tends to be the case when they find abuses.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville employs 17 priests from Mexico, Korea, Haiti, Colombia, India and Nigeria, said spokesman Rick Mussachio. There are also four religious sisters from Mexico. New rules will mean the typical 20 hours of paperwork for each application will increase to 30 or more, the fees will be higher and the diocese “will probably have to curtail the number of people we’ll be able to use,” Mussachio said. While a surge in seminary enrollments will abate the clergy shortage, right now the priests are needed at parishes and remain a key part of ministering to a growing Catholic immigrant community Mussachio said. “The Hispanic community will feel the impact,” he said.