AHA urges administration to make health care personnel exempt from H-1B visa changes

The AHA Sept. 29 asked the Trump administration to provide exemptions for health care personnel from the proclamation issued Sept. 19 announcing changes to the H-1B visa program. The proclamation increases the fee to $100,000 for new H-1B petitions filed by employers, as well as implements other restrictions on the entry of certain nonimmigrant workers. Of nearly 400,000 H-1B petitions approved in fiscal year 2024, 16,937 of those, or 4.2% of the total filed petitions, were for medicine and health occupations, and half of those approved petitions were for physicians and surgeons.

"Given the staffing and financial challenges our hospitals are already facing, the increased petition fees outlined in the September 19 Proclamation would likely prevent many of them from continuing to recruit essential health care staff and could force a reduction in the services they are able to provide," AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "We ask once again that an exemption from the new filing fee be applied for H1-B visa holders who are serving the nation's hospitals and health systems."