AMA, AHA Push to Exempt Doctors From $103K H-1B Fee

The American Medical Association and American Hospital Association are asking the Department of Homeland Security to exempt clinicians from a proposed $103,265 fee on H-1B visa petitions, according to Becker's Hospital Review.

In a Sept. 22 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the groups argued the six-figure charge would price hospitals out of recruiting foreign-trained physicians, a pipeline many rely on to staff rural and underserved communities. The AMA said the fee would make such recruiting 'next to financially impossible.'

The stakes are practical. International medical graduates fill a large share of residency slots and frontline roles in areas that already struggle to attract doctors. A fee north of $100,000 per petition would fall hardest on safety-net and rural facilities operating on thin margins, the kind least able to absorb it. The groups want DHS to carve clinicians out of the policy before it takes effect. DHS has not yet said whether it will grant an exemption.