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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n Some hospitals in the U.S. are without essential staff because international doctors who were set to start their medical training this week were delayed by the Trump administration’s travel and visa restrictions. <\/p>\n It’s unclear exactly how many foreign medical residents were unable to start their assignments, but six medical residents interviewed by The Associated Press say they\u2019ve undergone years of training and work only to be stopped at the finish line by what is usually a procedural step.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to give up,\u201d said a permanent Canadian resident who matched to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Harrisburg<\/a> but had her visa denied because she is a citizen of Afghanistan<\/a>. She requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. \u201cBut the situation also seems so helpless.\u201d<\/p>\n Initially, the medical community was worried that hundreds of positions \u2014 many in hospitals in low-income or rural areas of the U.S. \u2014 could be affected. The pause on interviews for J-1 visas for approved work or study-related programs was lifted in mid-June. <\/p>\n The national nonprofit that facilitates the residency match process said the visa situation is resolving, but it will take weeks to know with confidence how many medical residents have had the start of their careers derailed because they got their visa too late or were blocked by President Donald Trump\u2019s travel ban on 12 countries, according to people who coordinate the residents\u2019 training.<\/p>\n Four foreign medical residents told the AP that U.S. embassies have been slow to open up interview slots \u2014 and some have not opened any. <\/p>\n \u201cYou lose out on the time you could have used to treat patients,\u201d said one resident from Pakistan, who matched to an internal medicine program in Massachusetts and requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.<\/p>\n Thousands of foreign medical residents fill gaps in U.S. hospitals <\/p>\n The U.S. is projected to face a physician shortage in the next 11 years, per the Association of American Medical Colleges, and foreign medical residents fill critical gaps in the health care system. More than 6,600 foreign-born international medical residents matched into U.S. programs in 2025 \u2014 the highest on record \u2014 and another 300 filled positions that were vacant after the match process was complete. <\/p>\n Not all of those residents were affected by visa issues or the travel ban on foreign nationals from countries including Afghanistan, Haiti<\/a> and Sudan<\/a>. <\/p>\n International medical graduates often take jobs in places where U.S. medical trainees tend not to go, said Donna Lamb, president of the National Resident Matching Program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just that they\u2019re coming in and they want to work in big, flashy centers on the coast,\u201d Lamb said. \u201cThey\u2019re truly providing health care for all of America.\u201d<\/p>\n Foreign medical residents work in specialties that U.S. applicants aren’t as eager to apply to. For example, international candidates make up almost 40% of residents in internal medicine, which specializes in the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. <\/p>\n \u201cThe residents are the backbone of the entire hospital,\u201d said Dr. Zaid Alrashid from Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York, which has medical residents from almost every continent. Most received their visas prior to the pause but a few were caught up in delays.<\/p>\n Two residents from India who spoke on condition of anonymity have not been able to get an appointment at any U.S. embassies there despite the J-1 visa pause being lifted. <\/p>\n Another resident from Egypt just secured a visa appointment for mid-August but is worried her program may not be willing to wait for her. She\u2019s already paid her security deposit for an apartment in Texas to live during her residency.<\/p>\n “I don\u2019t know when this situation will be resolved,\u201d said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding she hasn\u2019t been eating or sleeping well.<\/p>\n Hospitals waiting for residents to arrive <\/p>\n In California, leaders at two graduate medical education programs said they have a small number of residents caught up in J-1 visa delays. Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns for the doctors who are still trying to get visas.<\/p>\n A residency leader at one large health care system said two doctors in its 150-resident program are delayed, adding they could start late or defer to next year. A 135-person program at a California public health system told the AP that one resident has yet to arrive, though he was finally scheduled for a visa interview.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not going to breathe easy until he’s here in our hospital,\u201d the second leader said.<\/p>\n As of Wednesday, Lamb’s matching program had received fewer than 20 requests to defer or cancel residency contracts. <\/p>\n Worried about losing their spots if they defer, many foreign medical residents may keep trying to get to the U.S. and start their residencies late, said Dr. Sabesan Karuppiah, a past member of the American Medical Association’s International Medical Graduates Governing Council and former director of a large residency program. <\/p>\n Some hospitals may struggle at this point to replace the residents who don’t make it, leaving fewer people to care for the same number of patients, said Kimberly Pierce Burke, executive director of the Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers.<\/p>\n Foreign medical trainees who’ve made it into the U.S. remain on edge about their situations, Karuppiah said. <\/p>\n \u201cI can tell you the word on the street is: \u2018Do not leave the country,’\u201d he said, adding that people are missing out on important events, seeing sick parents or even getting married. \u201cEverybody’s scared to just leave, not knowing what’s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114794952398155076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}