- The Labor Department Inspector General asked Rochester Regional Health for residency hiring records after an online allegation.
- The claim that 80 of 82 residents held H-1B or J-1 visas remains unverified.
- Officials are also reviewing H-1B oversight as New York hospitals seek relief from a one-hundred-thousand-dollar fee.
The U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General has asked Rochester Regional Health to account for residency hiring after a viral post alleged that 80 of 82 Rochester General Hospital residents held H-1B or J-1 visas. The post also claimed only 2 were Americans. The figures remain unverified.
Anthony D’Esposito publicly asked the health system to provide a breakdown of residency positions by visa category and say how many American applicants had a fair opportunity. “Show us the numbers,” he wrote.
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D’Esposito said his office would work with Vice President JD Vance’s White House Fraud Task Force if the visa system was being misused. His request focuses on the actual hiring figures, not just the totals circulated online.
An X account calling itself “Expose H1B Fraud” made the allegation in a post on September 27, 2026. It spread further on September 28, 2026. If the claimed numbers were accurate, visa holders would make up 98% of the 82 residents. That calculation comes from the allegation, not independently confirmed hiring records.
The public roster identifies schools, not immigration status
Rochester Regional Health operates the hospital in Rochester, New York. Public residency listings identify residents’ medical schools, but those entries do not establish a person’s visa, citizenship or place in the applicant pool.
The roster covers residents at PGY-1, PGY-2 and PGY-3 levels, as well as chief residents. A school listing can show where a doctor trained. It cannot, on its own, show whether the doctor holds a particular visa or is a U.S. citizen.
The program accepts international medical graduates, sponsors J-1 visas and fills residency positions through the National Resident Matching Program, according to information about the program. Those facts describe pathways into residency, not the status of each person listed or how many American applicants sought a position.
The distinctions leave several separate questions in D’Esposito’s request: the number of positions awarded to H-1B holders, the number awarded to J-1 holders, and how American applicants fared. The publicly listed medical-school information does not answer those questions.
Federal officials have widened scrutiny of H-1B cases
The request came amid a broader federal push on visa oversight. On September 18, 2026, the White House issued a presidential action titled “Enhancing Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program.”
The action said agencies had flagged “large-scale, systematic abuse” and directed them to consider layoffs when reviewing H-1B cases. It addresses that visa category specifically.
D’Esposito said President Donald Trump’s executive order had put visa abuse “under the microscope.” He has tied the Rochester inquiry to possible coordination with the White House task force if records show the system was misused.
Hospitals are separately seeking relief from a new fee
New York hospitals are also asking federal officials to exempt them from a new $100,000-per-worker H-1B fee. They say the charge could cost hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars and make it harder to replace foreign-born doctors and researchers.
That request concerns hospitals’ costs and access to workers. It is separate from the Rochester hiring allegation, which turns on records showing visa categories and the applicant pool.
The fee dispute places a concrete financial concern alongside the watchdog’s request for records: hospitals are seeking relief from the charge as federal officials scrutinize visa use.
