Immigration issues continue to force priests awaiting visas to return to their home countries

Friday, May. 09, 2025

SALT LAKE CITY — Another priest now ministering in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will have to return to his home country for a year because of delays in processing visas.

Two years ago, a change in the application process for employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) visas, under which many religious workers seek permanent residency, caused a backlog. Current estimates put the processing time at 16 to 30 months.

The change requires that priests and religious workers who have an EB-4 visa and have been in the United States for six years must have obtained a green card or must leave the U.S. for a minimum of one year before reapplying for a visa.

“The Diocese of Salt Lake City, like most dioceses around the nation, is severely impacted by the new immigration policy, mainly because we are dependent upon our international priests to help us celebrate the Mass and to serve the people on a daily basis in English, Spanish and multiple other languages,” Father Kenneth Vialpando, vicar for clergy, said. “Because of their bilingual or multilingual skills, our international priests are able to cover a lot of ground and to spread the Gospel far and near to most of our parishes throughout the state of Utah, which would not be possible without their presence in our state and nation.”  

The two priests in the diocese most recently affected by the EB-4 visa application process are Father Rodelio Ignacio and Father Edward Leondhas.

In April 2024 Fr. Ignacio, a native of Valenzuela City, a suburb of Manila in the Philippines, was forced to leave his ministry as administrator of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sandy to return to his home while he waited for green card approval. 

When Fr. Ignacio submitted his paperwork in 2022, he was told approval would likely take seven months, but it came through only recently. He returned to the diocese on April 21 and is temporarily serving at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Taylorsville.

He is happy and excited to be back in the diocese and was thrilled to participate in the memorial Mass for Pope Francis at the Cathedral of the Madeleine just after he returned, he said. 

“[Fr. Ignacio’s] absence during this last year was definitely felt by his brother priests and by his parishioners and students as we waited patiently for his return to Utah, to the diocese and to active ministry,” Fr. Vialpando said. “The fact that he was deeply missed by a whole community only shows that we as priests are not expendable; every single priest is vital to the mission of the Church, and therefore it’s a hardship for the diocese when one or several of our priests need to return home because of these new immigration policies.”  

Fr. Ignacio originally arrived in Utah in April 2019 and served first as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish, West Haven, then that August as parochial vicar at Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish, Park City and Saint Lawrence Mission, Heber. In August 2022 he became administrator at Blessed Sacrament, where he began a daily Holy Hour, which has been continued by Father Carlos Guzman, the priest who temporarily replaced him.

During his year in the Philippines Fr. Ignacio served in a parish in the Diocese of Pasig, but he is happy to be back in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. 

“It is my home, so I am glad to be home,” he said.

Fr. Leondhas, who is from Enayam Puthenthurai, Tamil Nadu, India, has been serving in the Diocese of Salt Lake City since January 2020, first as parochial vicar at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Orem, then as administrator of Saint Helen Catholic Church in Roosevelt and its missions, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha in Ft. Duchesne and Holy Spirit in Duchesne. Since December he has been serving as administrator of St. James the Greater Catholic Church in Vernal. 

After Fr. Ignacio had to return to the Philippines, Fr. Leondhas prepared himself for that possibility and put his future in God’s hands, he said. “If it is God’s will, if the diocese needs me here, if God is willing to bring me back, I will be back. I’m open to any ministry.”

Fr. Leondhas expects to travel back to India in early June. While he waits for his visa to come through he will minister in the Diocese of Kottar or on temporary assignment as determined by his bishop there. He does not know how long he will have to wait but anticipates that, without changes to the law, it will be at least a year. St. James the Greater Parish has a vibrant ministry and he is going to miss working there, he said.

New legislation proposed by Catholic legislators aims to address this visa problem (see story on p. 15). The Religious Workforce Protection Act, introduced to Congress on April 3, would allow foreign religious workers holding R-1 visas to remain in the U.S. for renewable three-year periods while waiting for permanent residency. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Congress to pass the legislation as quickly as possible. The proposed legislation has been referred to the Committee for the Judiciary, but it is unclear when or if it will pass.

“It is our hope that Catholic legislators will continue to do their part to establish policies that, hopefully, will allow our international priests in the future to remain in the States, while renewing their visas and petitioning for their green cards so that their ministries here will not have to be interrupted as they faithfully serve in our parishes, missions, schools, hospitals, jails and prisons,” Fr. Vialpando said.  

Fr. Ignacio also hopes that the proposed legislation will pass and that priests in the diocese will not be forced to leave their parishes, he said. “It is better if the priests will stay here so that they continue their priestly ministry, because the diocese is absolutely home.”