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Lawmakers ask for H-1B visa fee health care exemption
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to get an H-1B visa fee exception for health care workers. Industry experts say it's needed to bring highly trained medical professionals into the country to fill jobs, especially in rural areas.
DALLAS - A significant group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers are working together on legislation that could give the health care industry relief on new H-1B visa applications.
H-1B Visas & Health Care
The backstory:
Started in 1990, the program allows industries such as the health care system to recruit the best and brightest from other countries to fill critical vacancies in the United States.
Last year, President Donald Trump raised the application fee from about $5,000 to $100,000, citing abuse of the program.
However, health care advocacy groups complained because employers pay the visa fee. And the new higher fee makes it nearly impossible to bring overseas scientists, researchers, and doctors to fill critical shortages.
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What they're saying:
Stephen Love is president and CEO of the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council. He said the industry relies on medical professionals from other countries.
"Physicians who come from other countries typically are very, very highly trained. They speak more than one language," Love said. "And it’s so important that we have them for rural hospitals, also research and some of the things that we do to provide good healthcare."
Dallas pediatrician Marcial Oquendo came to the United States from Venezuela under the H-1B visa program.
"If it weren’t for the H-1B visa, I wouldn’t have been able to stay in the U.S. and work as a physician," he said.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an immediate freeze on new H-1B visa petitions by state agencies and public institutions of higher education, citing concerns about abuse of the federal visa program and the need to prioritize jobs for Texas workers.
What's new:
This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress introduced the Physicians and Health Care Workers Act, which would exempt health care systems from the president’s higher application fee.
The bill was referred to a committee for debate.
Big picture view:
Dallas immigration attorney Richard Gump said Congress hasn’t passed a bill impacting immigration like this in years.
"One thing to note that’s unusual there, this is the first time we’re getting Congress involved," Gump said. "This time, apparently, there’ve been about 100 bipartisan legislators who feel that this exception is important."
They feel it’s necessary to keep health care in the U.S. in stable condition.
"Putting any type of barrier in the amount of physicians that we can import some of the smartest people in the world is a hindrance not only to those people in those countries but really it’s a problem for America and in the future for our health care," Love said.
The Source: FOX 4's Shaun Rabb talked to several experts and doctors to gather information for this story.