UNITED STATES, April 10, 2025 (Religion News Service): On Tuesday (April 8), members of Congress introduced a rare bipartisan piece of immigration reform legislation aimed at clearing a backlog in visas for religious workers. The Religious Workforce Protection Act has substantial support from a variety of religious leaders, including Catholics, evangelical Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and Episcopalians. “We would not be able to serve our diverse flocks, which reflect the rich tapestry of our society overall, without the faithful men and women who come to serve through the Religious Worker Visa Program,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Mark Seitz, the USCCB migration committee chair, wrote to Congress on Thursday in support of the bill.

Typically, foreign religious workers and clergy come to the U.S. with an R-1 visa, which permits them to stay for up to five years. After that, they can apply for an EB-4 visa, which leads to a green card and legal permanent residency. But the EB-4 visa category has an annual cap and is shared by other types of immigrants, leading to an average wait time of 15 years for approval, according to the USCCB. After five years on an R-1 visa if they do not have an EB-4 visa lined up, religious workers have been forced to leave the U.S. But the new legislation would allow the Department of Homeland Security secretary to extend the R-1 visa for religious workers as they wait for a decision about their green cards. Samir Kalra, managing director of policy and programs for the Hindu American Foundation, also noted the importance of foreign religious workers in a statement supporting the legislation, writing that the bill “will help all religious communities, including Hindu Americans who are dependent on bringing religious workers trained in India to play a variety of essential roles at Hindu temples.”

https://religionnews.com/2025/04/10/catholics-line-up-behind-bipartisan-effort-to-reform-religious-worker-visas/

additional reports:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263321/us-bishops-urge-congress-to-back-religious-worker-visa-bill

https://www.usccb.org/resources/letter-congress-religious-workforce-protection-act-april-10-2025

https://www.ncronline.org/news/catholics-line-behind-bipartisan-effort-reform-religious-worker-visas

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