Trump Exempts Doctors from High-Risk Visa Review Pause

The Trump administration last week granted an exemption allowing U.S. immigration officials to review pending green card and visa applications from medical doctors originating from countries designated as high-risk, a policy shift that could enable a Libyan physician in Indiana to continue treating about 1,000 patients in rural areas.

Dr. Faysal Alghoula, a pulmonologist and intensive care unit specialist based in southwestern Indiana, has served communities spanning parts of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky since 2016. His current immigration status faces expiration in September unless renewed. The exemption responds to months of requests from physicians' organizations and immigration attorneys, who highlighted nationwide doctor shortages and the reliance on foreign-trained physicians in underserved regions, according to data from the National Library of Medicine. Alghoula noted local wait times of four to five months for pulmonology care.

The broader policy pauses reviews of green card and visa applications for nationals of 39 countries, including Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela, implemented last year following the shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan national....