A bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers has introduced legislation to exempt physicians and healthcare workers from the Trump administration’s controversial $100,000 H-1B visa fee, warning that the charge threatens to accelerate staffing shortages at hospitals across the country. The bill, introduced Monday, has drawn immediate backing from major medical associations and reignited a broader debate over the future of skilled worker immigration in the United States.
The H-1B program allows American employers to hire foreign nationals in specialized fields, including medicine, technology, and engineering, and has long been a cornerstone of the country’s healthcare workforce. International medical graduates fill a disproportionate share of roles in underserved and rural communities where domestic recruitment consistently falls short. The new fee, implemented as part of a wider effort to prioritize American labor, has already begun to dent application numbers, raising alarms among providers who say they simply cannot absorb such costs.
A Bill With Broad Support, and Urgent Stakes
The H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act was introduced on March 17 by Republican Representatives Mike Lawler of New York and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, alongside Democratic Representatives Yvette Clarke of New York and Sanford Bishop Jr. of Georgia. Beyond exempting healthcare workers from the $100,000 fee, the legislation would prohibit any new H-1B-related fees for these workers that exceed limits already established under U.S. law.
The American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association are among the organizations that have thrown their support behind the measure. According to Danielle P. Turnipseed of the Association of American Medical Colleges, the bill represents “an important first step” toward protecting the academic medicine workforce, which depends heavily on internationally trained talent. Representative Lawler framed the issue in stark terms: “Without the clarification provided in this bill, the physicians and the wider health care workforce would effectively be shut out of the H-1B program, furthering workforce shortages and limiting care options.”
Fee’s Early Impact Already Visible in Application Data
The financial toll of the $100,000 fee has surfaced in federal court filings, with a Department of Homeland Security official revealing that the government collected just $8.5 million in new fee payments in recent months, a figure overshadowed by the broader decline in new applications, which has cost the federal government nearly $20 million in foregone revenue.
According to Representative Sanford Bishop Jr., the fee is particularly damaging for rural hospitals: “The $100,000 H-1B filing fee adds insult to injury to hospitals, especially in rural areas,” he said, warning of detrimental consequences for communities already struggling to attract qualified professionals. The administration, however, has shown little sign of softening its position. USCIS spokesperson Matthew J. Tragesser told Newsweek that “American workers must come first,” describing the fee as a deliberate signal to prioritize domestic hiring.
The legislation now moves to committee review in the House, where its fate will depend on whether the political urgency around healthcare access can overcome the administration’s broader immigration priorities.
