AHA urges DHS to maintain current policy for physicians in U.S. with J-1 visas

The AHA urged the Department of Homeland Security today to maintain "duration of status" as an authorized period of stay for the nearly 17,000 physicians nationwide with J-1 visas who are participating in residency and fellowship programs. Current policy allows J-1 physicians to stay in the U.S. for the entire duration of their training program. The DHS proposal would replace the duration of status designation with a fixed period of admission to last no longer than four years, meaning physicians in programs longer than that would be required to apply to DHS directly each year for a stay extension.

"The AHA acknowledges that DHS' objective in removing D/S designations from multiple categories of nonimmigrant visas is to reduce the risk of visa overstays and to strengthen DHS' capacity to confirm that visas are being utilized for their intended purposes," the AHA wrote. "At the same time, we believe that the current D/S policy approach for J-1 physicians has a long track record of achieving these same goals in a manner that is well-aligned with the highly structured and carefully sequenced nature of physician training programs. Furthermore, DHS' proposed policies could lead to significant disruptions to physician training programs, affect access to patient care and add significant administrative burden and costs to hospitals."