Losers–rural healthcare where the majority of H1B physicians practice to fulfill their required 3 years of public service requirement for a conversion of their J1—>H1B visa.
Losers–the new fee effectively cancels those new state licensing regulations allowing FMGs to practice medicine in the US without doing a US residency because those programs rely hospitals/healthcare systems to sponsor H1B visas
There was a headline yesterday that they might exempt the fee for doctors or medical personnel. I saw it on my work newsfeed so can’t link it unfortunately.
If the program had been properly examined one assumes this would have been done in advance not as a knee jerk after the implications are pointed out.
Could it also increase the shortage of primary care physicians (more than overall physicians)?
Because primary care specialties tend to pay less, they seem to be less popular among US medical school graduates burdened by enormous medical school debt. So it seems that graduates of non-US medical schools with much lower cost to the student are common in primary care.
Yes, because ~1/3 of those who match into IM residencies each year are FMGs. Almost universally the only visa offered by US residencies is the J1.
However, under the Conrad 30 program, J1 visa holders who wish to remain in the US after residency may convert their J1 visa into a H1B visa. This program allows FMGs to waive the “must return home for 2 years” requirement of the J1 on the condition that they work for 3 years in federal designated medically underserved area. (Typically at a FQHC.)
This program brings many physicians, dentists and nurses to rural and low income inner city urban areas which US citizen healthcare providers find unattractive and where they generally will not work.
BTW, 1/3 of current practicing US dentists are graduates of foreign dental schools so the issues surrounding physicians also applies to other healthcare professionals.
I am in Healthcare and was hired on a H1-B Visa, I definitely would not have been hired if the cost was what is being proposed!
I’m really hoping that like many of Trump’s poorly thought out initiatives, this quietly goes away.
There has been abuse of H1B, but this is not where it has been. They should be targeting the main culprits, not undermining the pockets of the economy where these have been critical in attracting talent.