October 15, 2025

By Keith Benman
Contributing Writer

Diocesan officials are warning foreign-born priests and other religious here on visas not to travel outside the United States after a priest serving in the diocese was barred from re-entering the country.

Father John K. Ojuok, parochial vicar at St. Peter, St. Mary, St. Hedwig in Lowville, Glenfield and Houseville was denied a re-entry visa stamp in late September after traveling to Kenya to renew it upon expiration, according to Father Christopher Carrara, diocesan vicar for clergy. The denial came after he had completed all required paperwork and a visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The only reason Father Ojuok was given for denial of the visa stamp was that he had failed the interview, Father Carrara said. The immigration officials would not tell him why.

“You certainly want them doing their due diligence,” Father Carrara said. “But this is a guy (Father Ojuok) who has been here in the country working full time … and he’s not new to this.”

Father Ojuok seems to have got caught up in the increased scrutiny of visa applications ordered in September by the Trump administration, which includes in-person interviews at U.S. embassies or consulates abroad. The visa stamp goes on a visa holder’s passport and is needed to enter the United States at a port of entry.

Nonetheless, Father Carrara doesn’t think Father Ojuok is lost to the diocese forever. The R-1 religious worker visa he holds, giving him legal status to stay in the United States, still appears to be valid.

But without the visa stamp, he would be denied entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers if he attempted to enter the United States. Diocesan officials have asked U.S. House Representative Elise Stefanik, R-21, to investigate and help get Father Ojuok back to work in the diocese.

“He (Father Ojuok) is already here legally,” Father Carrara said. “It’s not as if he doesn’t have a home or legal status. It’s just that they won’t let him back in the country.”

For Father Ojuok, the situation now is different from the one he faced in 2021, when he had to go back to Kenya for a one-year waiting period in order to renew his visa. Then, he knew he’d be able to come back to the United States.

Other changes undertaken this year by the Trump administration also have diocesan officials worried, adding to their concerns about priests and religious traveling back to their home countries or even Canada. And some of the changes will make it impossible for priests and religious from some countries to get visas in the first place.

That includes a ban implemented over the summer on issuance of visas for citizens of Haiti and 12 other nations.

“There are not any positive changes,” Father Carrara said. “There’s only negative ones, unfortunately. Things are as difficult as they were before and probably more so.”

More broadly, the diocese is concerned because many of the priests and other religious here on visas are in an almost constant process of preparing for renewal of visas, actually undergoing renewal, or applying for a visa other than the one they already hold. With delays currently happening, applicants’ current visas can expire through no fault of their own. An applicant can fill out all the paperwork, pay required fees, and plan for travel back to their home country and find it was all for nought for want of an opening for a visa interview.

And immigration changes enacted late in the Biden administration also continue to cause concern.

Last year, a backlog in religious worker visas was created when those seeking new ones or renewals were put into a much larger application pool including other types of visas. That greatly extended the visa wait line for everyone involved. Because of a delay in his application, Father Pedro Edgardo “Jay” de la Rosa, pastor at Holy Angels Church in Altona and St. Ann’s Church in Mooers Forks, was forced to return to the Philippines for a year before he could get his visa renewed. He completed the wait period, obtained a new visa, and returned to the diocese.

As a workaround for the delays in religious worker visas, the diocese was planning to have overseas religious wanting to serve in the diocese apply for H-1B visas, Father Carrara said. Those are typically associated with tech workers but are actually available to other workers in fields requiring specialized knowledge. The thought was that applying for the H-1B visas could cut down on delays and offer surety once issued. But in late September, the application fee for such visas was upped to $100,000.

“There is need for these workers,” Father Carrara said. “They’re not taking anyone’s job. … They are coming here to give, not to take.”