Doctors may be exempt from Donald Trump’s H1B visa fee move

Published on: Sept 22, 2025 08:50 pm IST

Doctors expressed alarm about how the H1B visa fee hike by the Donald Trump administration could choke off the pipeline of international medical graduates.

The White House said Monday that doctors may be exempt from the Donald Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee for high-skilled H-1B visa applications.
Trump shocked the world on Friday with a proclamation announcing a big fee hike for the H1B visa program’s applications. The move roiled the technology industry and upended the plans of highly educated foreign students. The White House clarified on Saturday that the new policy doesn’t apply to current visa holders.

Donald Trump displays a signed executive order on gold card visa in the Oval Office (REUTERS)

“The Proclamation allows for potential exemptions, which can include physicians and medical residents,” Bloomberg News quoted White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers saying in an email.

Trump has said companies abuse H-1Bs to suppress wages, calling it a security threat. Doctors expressed alarm about how the visa fee could choke off the pipeline of international medical graduates.
The $100,000 fee for H-1B visas “risks shutting off the pipeline of highly trained physicians that patients depend on, especially in rural and underserved communities,” American Medical Association President Bobby Mukkamala, a Michigan head and neck surgeon, told Bloomberg News.
Health care employers often sponsor medical residents and other physicians on H-1B visas. According to federal data compiled by the health research group KFF, more than 76 million Americans live in places where the government has designated a shortage of primary care doctors.
Children’s Research Hospital are among the healthcare industry’s top sponsors of H-1B visas. Mayo has more than 300 approved visas, according to the data. Paying the fee could add millions to the labour costs at large medical systems.

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