WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and colleagues in both the House and the Senate, wrote a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) urging the Administration to resume premium processing for physicians seeking employment-based visas. Doctors on these visas increase access to health care, especially rural areas, through the Conrad 30 program, which allows foreign medical school graduates who have been trained in the United States to stay in the country as long as they serve underserved areas. On March 20, 2020, USCIS announced its suspension of premium processing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“On March 20, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the immediate and temporary suspension of premium processing for all Form I-129 and I-140 petitions due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are deeply concerned that this suspension will exacerbate physician shortages, particularly in rural areas, and at the leading academic and research organizations that depend on health care provided by physicians who graduated from foreign medical schools,” the members wrote.
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The members continued, “This processing freeze will undoubtedly prevent these physicians from practicing in underserved areas, and at providers of high-complexity care, leaving hospitals in these areas more shortly staffed than before this national health crisis began. We ask that you follow your past practice and continue to offer premium processing for physicians seeking employment-based visas—including for resident physicians serving in teaching hospitals—in order to help ensure that rural and underserved areas can continue to receive quality and continuity of care in this time of extraordinary need.”
In addition to Durbin, Duckworth, and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Angus King (I-ME), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
The following U.S. Representatives also signed the letter: U.S. Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), Abby Finkenauer (D-IA-01), Tom Cole (R-OK-04), Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Cindy Axne (D-IA-03), Mark Pocan (D-WI-02), Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM-02), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), and Darren Soto (D-FL-09).
“The American Hospital Association supports this effort because it will increase the number of physicians on the front lines providing care to patients during the ongoing public health emergency,” the American Hospital Association said.
Currently, many doctors from other countries training in the United States are required to return to their home country for two years after their training has ended before they can apply for another visa or green card. The Conrad 30 program allows doctors to stay in the United States without having to return home if they agree to practice in an underserved area for three years. The “30” refers to the number of doctors per state that can participate in the program.
