Father Charles Gnanapragasam came to the United States in 2019 and has been at St. Mary’s Church in East Islip as an associate pastor.
Next week, he is set to return to India because his visa will expire.
The priest filed an application for his green card in 2021, but tells News 12 that, due to a backlog at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, that application won’t be reviewed for at least another six months.
Church parishioners started a petition to bring awareness to this problem, not just for their priest, but for many priests on Long Island. So far, they have accumulated thousands of signatures.
Father Charles is scheduled to deliver his farewell Mass this Sunday at St. Mary’s Church at noon.
News 12 have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for more information and is awaiting a response.