In what could either be a very elaborate April Fools prank or just plain bad news for employers looking to sponsor health workers from abroad, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) raised fees for employment-based visa applications on April 1.
Sadly, unlike with the Empire State Building’s Rainforest Café announcement, it doesn’t feel like USCIS is about to come out with a “Haha, gotcha!” anytime soon.
One affected visa in particular may spell consequences for the healthcare industry: the H-1B, the most commonly used visa for foreign workers. Under the new USCIS rule, the petition fee for the H-1B (known as Form I-129) jumped to $780 from $460, a 70% increase, and the H-1B registration process fee increased from $10 to $215—a 2,050% hike.
With staffing shortages rampant in the healthcare industry, especially for nurses, some health systems have shifted to hiring international medical workers. But there are only two ways a foreign-educated nurse can legally migrate to the US—by obtaining a green card for registered nurses or an H-1B visa, according to the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, a nonprofit organization that evaluates and verifies nurses to work in the US.
As green cards are only for workers who plan on becoming permanent residents, most employers choose to file H-1B visas for their employees. The Henry Ford Health system, for example, chose to sponsor H-1B visas for its internationally recruited nurses, Healthcare Brew previously reported.
The American Hospital Association declined to comment on whether this price increase is likely to affect the hiring of foreign-trained nurses.
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