Pastor says he'll self-deport from Texas - but blames Biden for stretching replacement visa wait time
A pastor in Texas has been forced to self-deport to Brazil with his family due to a backlog in applying for visas that he blames on the Biden administration.
Albert Oliveira, a pastor at a Baptist church in Gordon, a small town of just 500 outside of Fort Worth, will be leaving the US just before his religious visa expires.
Oliveira has been in the country on a temporary religious worker (R-1) visa since 2020, which is set to expire on November 15.
The pastor and his wife, Caroline, an immigrant from Germany, are now planning to pack up their life and move to a new country with their child.
Oliveira and his family have been working to obtain an employment-based (EB-4) visa, which provides a pathway to religious leaders seeking a green card to work in the US.
Under the Biden administration, EB-4 visas were expanded to include migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
Oliveira told local NBC affiliate, KXAS-TV, that because of this expansion, it could take up to 20 years for his case to be processed.
'That’s what caused the problem, was the overloading of the line,' Oliveira told the outlet.
Albert Oliveira shared that he will self-deport next month with his wife, Caroline, and their child, who is an American citizen
Oliveira said that a change in visa policy under the Biden administration has made it difficult to apply for an employment-based (EB-4) visa
Biden expanded the law so that migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were no longer in a separate queue to acquire a visa
The family has attempted to find a legal pathway to stay in the country for the last two years, but has come to the sobering conclusion that their case won't be processed by the time their visa expires.
'For lack of better terms, it’s unfair, it’s just unfair,' Oliveira told KXAS.
In 2023, the Biden administration changed the way the law is interpreted so that migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were no longer in a separate queue to acquire a visa.
The Department of State said at the time that the change complied with US law. Before the update, there was a restriction on the number of immigrant visas issued to nationals from those three countries.
The change resulted in a backlog in applications for EB-4 visas. There is a limited number of visas handed out each year.
In February, the State Department announced that all available EB-4 visas were issued for the fiscal year and would reset on October 1.
Since the Oliveiras are still in limbo with their application, they have decided to move to Brazil for a year and apply for another five-year R-1 visa.
Caroline said that she's been in the US for over 16 years and will now have to live in a culture she isn't used to.
Oliveira said he's planning on moving to Brazil for a year before his temporary visa expires on November 15
Oliveira has lived in the country for over a decade, first coming to the US on a student visa in 2011.
He met his wife, and they moved to Gordon seven years ago for Oliveira to serve at the First Baptist Church. The couple has a child together who is an American citizen.
'We know that God has a plan, and we know that he will provide. And if he wants us back, he’ll bring us back,' Oliveira told KXAS.
The Oliveiras aren't the only ones forced to make the difficult decision of self-deportation.
Oliveira serves as a pastor at the First Baptist Church in Gordon, a small town of just about 500 people outside of Fort-Worth
Oliveira is self-deporting with his wife, Caroline, who has been in the US for over 16 years
As the State Department grapples with backlog, lawmakers are attempting to streamline the process to avoid excessive wait times for work visas.
In April, the Religious Workforce Protection Act was introduced in Congress to allow religious leaders to stay in the US legally after their R-1 visa expires while they wait for EB-4 approval.
The bill has gained bipartisan support, but has yet to be voted on in either the Senate or the House.
Daily Mail reached out to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services for comment.
