100 U.S. Senators and Representatives send letter to Secretary Noem urging the healthcare industry’s exemption from Trump’s $100,000 payment requirement for H-1B petitions.

On February 11, 2026, Representatives Clarke and Lawler of New York and 98 other members of Congress sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, urging the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to exempt the healthcare sector from the new $100,000 payment requirement for H-1B petitions that require consular processing. Read our previous posts about the $100,000 payment here. 

The congressional letter highlights that “worsening workforce shortages across all health care professional are significantly diminishing access to care in rural and urban communities across the nation” and that “health care organizations must be able to recruit staff in the most cost-effective manner so they can use their financial resources to hire as many caregivers as possible to take care of their communities. Rural hospitals and urban safety net hospitals face uncommon recruitment and retention issues and will most acutely feel the effects of the $100,000 fee. These hospitals rely heavily on the H-1B visa to maintain adequate staffing and offer comprehensive services in high-need areas. 21 million Americans live in areas where foreign-trained physicians account for at least half of all practicing physicians.” 

Read the congressional letter to Noem here.