Sponsors (41)
The bill preserves access to foreign clinicians and lowers hiring costs for health care providers—helping patient access in underserved areas and protecting immigrant clinicians—while limiting a federal revenue/deterrent tool and adding potential administrative burdens for enforcement.
Hospitals, clinics, and patients in underserved areas can continue recruiting and hiring H‑1B clinicians without paying the new $100,000 surcharge, helping preserve staffing pipelines and maintain patient access to care.
Facilities that rely on foreign health professionals face lower hiring costs, which helps keep services operating in underserved and rural communities.
Prospective H‑1B health workers are protected from the additional $100,000 petition surcharge by capping fees at the INA 214(c)(9)(B) level, reducing financial barriers for immigrant clinicians.
Taxpayers may bear higher federal immigration costs because the bill removes an administration tool (the surcharge) that could raise revenue or deter certain H‑1B admissions.
U.S.-based workers could face increased competition in some sectors because the bill reduces the deterrent effect of policies intended to discourage certain employer practices.
DHS, federal employees, and employers (including hospitals) may face added administrative complexity and disputes when determining who qualifies as 'health care workforce' under ACA section 5101, increasing implementation burdens.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Exempts H‑1B health care workers from a Presidential payment requirement and caps fees at the existing INA level for those workers.
Introduced March 17, 2026 by Michael Lawler · Last progress March 17, 2026
Exempts H‑1B health care workers from a Presidential Proclamation that conditioned H‑1B admission on petitioners paying $100,000, so those working in the health care workforce (as defined in the Affordable Care Act) will not be subject to that payment requirement. The bill also prevents charging those exempted workers any fee higher than the fee level set in existing immigration law (INA §1184(c)(9)(B)).