Lawmakers ask DHS to exempt health care workers from H-1B visa fee

One hundred members of Congress signed a bipartisan letter to the Department of Homeland Security requesting the agency exempt health care workers from the $100,000 filing fee for H-1B visas. Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Michael Lawler, R-N.Y. led the American Hospital Association-supported letter. “Imposing a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions will exacerbate hospitals’ existing staffing challenges and could push chronically underfunded hospitals to their financial brink,” the legislators write. “If these hospitals cannot petition for new H-1B visas to address their staffing needs without also having to pay this fee, it will further damage their financial viability. Critically needed open positions will simply go unfilled, leaving rural and high-poverty urban areas without adequate access to care.” (AHA News article, 2/12/26)