September 30, 2025
Changes to H1-B Process
Dear clergy and laity of the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church,
Grace and peace to you in the name of the One who was, who is, and who is to come. I write to you this day gladdened by the many ways in which you are serving in your churches and communities to be a witness to the presence, mercy, and justice of Christ in your respective communities across this great Conference. Your witness is a sign of God’s hope for the world, and I thank you for it.
On Friday, September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that makes severe and immediate changes to the H1-B visa process, changes that include raising the application fee to $100,000. While much has made the news about how these changes will affect our nation’s technology sector, they will also affect the lives of the more than 200 immigrant clergy and clergy families serving in local churches and communities across our Conference.
As of this writing, we have been reassured by our Conference attorney for immigration matters of the following:
- Friday’s changes to the H1-B visa process only affect those who have not yet come to the United States. Therefore, our Virginia Conference immigrant clergy, and other H-1B status employees already inside the U.S. as of September 21, 2025 are currently unaffected by these changes, even if their petition is still pending.
- There is at least a possibility that religious workers will receive an exemption to this new immigration policy.
- There will likely be court challenges to the changes to this latest executive order on immigration.
The changes from the new petition do not apply if:
- The clergyperson or other H-1B status employee is already inside the U.S. as of 12:01 a.m. on September 21, 2025, even if their petition is still pending.
- Caution: If the employee travels outside the U.S. after September 21 while the petition is pending, the restriction could apply.
- The H-1B petition was approved before September 21, 2025.
- The petition is a change of status to H-1B, extension of H-1B status or change of H-1B employer for an individual physically present in the U.S.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to allow certain workers, companies, or industries to bypass the fee if doing so is considered in the “national interest” and does not pose a risk to the United States; at the same time, we are prayerfully and strategically preparing so that our clergy are supported in the best ways possible as we navigate the changes ahead.
I want to say to our immigrant clergy, their families, and the congregations that they serve that my office continues to work diligently on ways we can be of support to you, even amidst the ever-changing landscape of the United States’ policies on immigration. I see you. I appreciate the work that you do and the sacrifices you have made and continue to make to respond in faith to the call God has placed upon your life. You have departed your homeland, from what is known and familiar, to be a part of God’s dream for humanity and the salvation of the world.
In Exodus 22:21, God commands “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident foreigner, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Care for the outsider is not merely a political position. It is at the core of the gospel, even now.
May the God of all grace bless and keep you as you press on towards the goal of mercy and human dignity, until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24).”
Signed,
