Trump Admin Exempts Foreign Physicians from Visa Freeze

The Trump administration has exempted foreign physicians from a processing freeze tied to a January travel ban on 39 countries, allowing doctors already in the United States to resume visa extensions, work permits and green card applications.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its website late last week without a formal announcement, stating that physicians are no longer subject to the hold. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the change, saying in a statement that applications associated with medical physicians will continue processing. The move reverses a policy that had suspended all immigration decisions for nationals of the affected countries, including those from parts of Africa, the Middle East and Venezuela.

The restriction had placed many international doctors in limbo. Foreign-trained physicians make up about 25 percent of the U.S. medical workforce, with more than 60 percent practicing in primary care fields such as family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Hospitals placed some on administrative leave while reviewing their status, exacerbating strains in an already short-staffed health system.

One example involved Ezequiel Veliz, a...