No visa hold for US doctors from travel-ban countries: Major U-turn by Trump amid physician crisis

The Donald Trump administration has silently walked back on its travel ban on around 39 countries and secretly allowed doctors from those countries to work and stay in the US. The New York Times reported that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its website late last week, without any formal announcement, that physicians are no longer subject to the processing hold.

“Applications associated with medical physicians will continue processing,” the Department of Homeland Security told the NYT.As the administration announced a travel ban on 39 countries, all immigration work from applicants of those countries was paused. This included all types of visas, work permits, Green cards etc. Physicians who were already working in the US were placed on administrative leave by hospitals as they came under scrutiny.As this was gradually leading to a healthcare crisis in the US as foreign doctors make up 25 per cent of all doctors working in the US, the administration lifted the ban only for doctors — but those who are already in the US. Physicians from Africa, the Middle East and Venezuela were among those displaced from their jobs.The travel ban impacted existing foreign doctors in more ways than one as well. For example, Ezequiel Veliz, a family doctor from Venezuela, was detained by federal agents on April 6 at a checkpoint in Texas.

He fell out of legal status as his visa renewal was not being processed because of the travel ban. He was released after 10 days.On April 8, several doctor associations, including the American academies of family physicians, neurology and pediatrics, signed a letter to the secretaries of state and homeland security expressing “urgent concern” about barriers preventing “qualified, vetted physicians” from entering and remaining in the United States, and calling for a national-interest exemption from the policy as well as expedited processing of their cases.“Affected physicians have not yet been notified about any changes in their visa process, but we are hopeful after seeing this update,” said Sebastian Arruarana, founder of Project IMG, an organization that represents thousands of international medical graduates in the United States.

Can doctors from these travel-ban countries come to the US from outside?

There is a lack of clarity on this issue. According to experts, this is not for physicians who are from these countries but not present in the US now. This is also not for incoming residents outside the US as the external travel ban remains in place. This is apparently only for doctors who are already in the US, experts interpreted.