Foreign doctors will be able to receive visas allowing them to practice in the United States, after the Trump administration quietly changed a policy to exempt them from a travel ban.<\/p>\n
A Department of Homeland Security policy stemming from a travel ban that was put in place in January had frozen decisions on visa extensions,<\/a> work permits and green cards for citizens of 39 countries. As The New York Times reported last month, some physicians were subsequently placed on administrative leave by hospitals, and many others faced the imminent threat of being forced to stop working.<\/p>\n Late last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its website, without a formal announcement, to indicate that physicians are no longer subject to the processing hold. In response to questions from The Times, D.H.S. confirmed in a statement that \u201cApplications associated with medical physicians will continue processing,\u201d meaning that the agency will resume issuing visas and work permits for the group.<\/p>\n The United States faces a shortage of about 65,000 physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the deficit is expected to surge over the next decade as Americans live longer and more doctors retire.<\/p>\n More than 60 percent of foreign physicians practice primary care, including family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, which many American doctors shun because of grueling workloads and lower pay compared with other specialties.<\/p>\n \u201cI am glad that the administration took measures to ensure that we can keep our dedicated international physicians,\u201d said Dr. Rebecca Andrews, chair of the Board of Regents for the American College of Physicians, which represents internists, the primary care doctors who treat adults.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to recruit the most skilled doctors no matter where they are from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Foreign physicians make up 25 percent of all doctors working in the United States. Physicians from Africa, the Middle East and Venezuela were among those displaced from their jobs.<\/p>\n Ezequiel Veliz, a family doctor from Venezuela who fell out of legal status and whose new visa had not been processed<\/a>, was detained by federal agents on April 6 at a checkpoint in Texas. He was released 10 days later<\/a>.<\/p>\n