“It’s frustrating” can sum up the current situation for religious workers on visas in the United States. In April 2023, the State Department changed its policies on the process of approving requests for permanent residency. This change was in response to a backlog; applications from 2019 are just now being reviewed, creating a timing glitch that causes visas to expire.
For Glenmary, it means that priests who are currently on temporary religious worker visas will not be granted permanent residency before their visas expire. When it expires, those Glenmarians will either have to reapply for a student visa or leave the United States for one year and reapply for a religious worker visa.
One Glenmarian this will affect is Father Kenn Wandera, who was made pastor at St. Michael the Archangel in Unicoi County, Tennessee, last year. “I’ve been in the United States for almost 10 years,” he says. Coming from Kenya, he had a student visa while a seminarian. He is now on a religious worker visa that is expiring at the end of the year.
The Glenmary Executive Council and Vocations Department are working to figure out a solution so that Father Kenn’s ministry is not interrupted. They are joining efforts of the Catholic Immigration League Network (CLINIC) and the US bishops’ conference, whose web sites have more information.
“It’s what we were ordained for—to serve the people of God,” says Father Kenn. “You don’t think there should be any obstacles to that.”