When the Trump administration announced last month that every new H-1B visa would come with a $100,000 fee, the objective seemed straightforward: encourage companies, particularly tech companies that heavily on the program, to start hiring American workers and stop driving down American wages.
But the health care industry is raising concerns that the price hike on the H-1B visa will threaten the ability of hospitals in rural and underserved areas to bring in foreign workers and fulfill a shortage of specialists needed to serve the community.
“There’s no way we’re going to pay $100,000,” Carolynn Lundry, a residency program coordinator at St. Luke’s Hospital in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri.
“We pool from international graduates, and if we’re going to take away the H-1Bs from that, it’s going to shrink our pool of choices,” said Lundry, who selects 16 internal medicine residents a year for St. Luke’s.
More than 64% of international medical graduates were practicing in medically underserved areas or health professional shortage areas, with more than
Continue Reading on CNN
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.