Amid visa backlog, foreign-born North Texas pastor self-deports
By Ken Molestina, Lexi Salazar, Katie Standing
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Texas (KTVT) — On a Sunday in early November, Brazilian-born Pastor Albert Oliveira led his final in-person service at the First Baptist Church in the small Texas town of Gordon. A week later, Oliveira, his wife and three-year-old son boarded a flight to Brazil.
Oliveira is one of many foreign-born religious leaders across the United States forced to make the difficult decision to self-deport.
“It feels like defeat, honestly,” Oliveira told CBS Texas Sunday morning as he arrived at DFW Airport for his flight. “We’ve been fighting over this course for two years, and now we’re going home.”
Oliveira and his family have spent the past two years trying to figure out a legal way to stay in the country, but despite their efforts and the money they have spent on legal fees, the family has run out of time. His departure is not only difficult for his family, but it’s also a blow to his congregation.
“It don’t seem fair,” said Wayne Wroblski, a parishioner and worship leader at the church. “He’s dotted all the Is, crossed all the Ts, made all the filings on time since he has been here.”
An emotional final service More than 200 worshippers packed the pews at the First Baptist Church in Gordon for Oliveira’s emotional final service. There were few dry eyes as Oliveira thanked church members for allowing him into their lives.
Originally from Brazil, Oliveira first came to the United States on a student visa in 2011. He built his life here — marrying German national Caroline Schuster Oliveira and moving to Gordon seven years ago, initially to serve as a youth minister. Three years ago, he became the church’s lead pastor. Since then, he and his parishioners say they’ve seen the congregation flourish.
“It’s a lot of emotions. A lot of different feelings, honestly,” Oliveira told CBS News Texas during an interview after the service. “I feel loved, but I also feel disappointed at the people in power.”
Oliveira finds himself in a predicament that many foreign-born clergy find themselves in.
For the past five years, Oliveira and his family have been in this country on an R-1 visa, a temporary visa issued to religious workers. He is currently applying for an EB-4 visa, which is a pathway for immigrants seeking a green card.
Immigration attorney Lance Curtright, who is not involved in Oliveira’s case, said this has been standard for immigrant religious workers seeking permanent status in the U.S. for years.
Biden administration changed the way EB-4 visas are distributed Two years ago, the Biden administration changed the way EB-4 visas are distributed — making it so that some migrants, including unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, were placed in the same queue as religious workers from other countries.
“It resulted in a backlog of visas, not enough visas for really anyone,” Curtright said. “I can just tell you that I’ve seen a lot of individuals suffering on account of it, a lot of people are scrambling trying to find ministers for their church services.”
Increased migration at the southern border has led to an increase in EB-4 visa applications, worsening the backlog. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data analyzed by the CBS News Data Team, in March of 2022, there were 71,147 petitions for EB-4 visas. In March of this year, there were 214,771 — a 200% increase in three years. About 10,000 total EB-4 visas are granted each year.
Realizing his family would not receive an EB-4 visa before his R-1 visa expires, Oliveira made the choice to voluntarily leave the country with his family to avoid undocumented status.
“What we feel is that we were scammed,” Oliveira said. “Out of our money, out of our time, out of our plans. The church was scammed out of their time, their plans.”
After Oliveira’s final service, parishioners surprised him with a lunch, where they took turns thanking him.
“He’s been our friend, he’s been our pastor,” he’s been all we could ever ask for,” said Rebecca Sue Collins, a member of the church. “We’re going to miss him.”
“I’m just really overwhelmed by the love that this church and community has shown for us,” said Caroline Schuster Oliveira. “Just to see and trust God’s goodness that he has for our lives, even in the midst of times like this when we face uncertainty.”
Leaving with hopes to return The Oliveira family has now left the country for Brazil. They hope to apply for another R-1 visa in a year, when Oliveira is eligible again. And the goal is to return to Gordon. In the meantime, he plans to continue to preach remotely.
“I didn’t want to believe that we would have to leave, but now it’s happening,” Oliveira said at the airport Sunday morning. “We believe that, even in spite of all these things happening to our church, we’re going to continue unified.”
In April, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, Susan Collins and Jim Risch introduced the Religious Workforce Protection Act as a potential solution. The bipartisan legislation would allow religious workers with pending EB-4 applications the ability to stay in the U.S. while awaiting permanent residency.
For now, that bill remains pending in committee.
CBS News Texas reached out to U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, the Republican congressman who represents Gordon, Texas. He sent a statement saying:
“Our office is aware of Rev. Albert Fernandes-Oliveira’s R-1 visa expiration and his efforts to adjust his status to an EB-4 visa. Our office began work on his case in April 2024 and has since requested an expedited review from the State Department. However, due to high demand and limited visa availability, the request was declined. Recent policy changes expanding EB-4 eligibility and subsequent legal corrections have further delayed processing. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate changes before his current visa expires, and any adjustment of status would fall under USCIS authority.”
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