Radiology Groups Back Bill to Exempt Physicians from $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

(UNITED STATES) – Radiology groups backed bipartisan legislation that would exempt physicians and other healthcare workers from a $100,000 H-1B visa filing fee created under a Trump administration policy in September 2025.

The measure, titled the H-1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act (H.R. 7961), would carve out an exception for medical workers and block any additional H-1B charges beyond the approximately $5,000 in fees already required by law.

Members of Congress introduced the bill on March 17, 2026. Representatives Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, Sanford Bishop, Democrat of Georgia, Maria Elvira Salazar, Republican of Florida, and Yvette Clarke, Democrat of New York, sponsored it.

Support has come from Radiology groups and other medical specialties that say the new fee threatens hospitals’ ability to recruit doctors. Their concern centers on hospitals serving rural and underserved communities, where hiring challenges already run deep.

The proposed exemption reaches beyond physicians alone. It would apply to physicians, radiologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other medical professionals working through the H-1B visa system.

That scope has helped draw backing from several large healthcare organizations. The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the Association of Physical Therapy and Qualified Individuals have all supported the bill.

The fee at the center of the fight dates to a Trump administration policy adopted in September 2025. Since then, hospital and physician groups have argued that the extra cost changes the economics of hiring foreign-trained medical workers, especially for employers with tight margins.

The American Hospital Association raised that warning soon after the policy took effect. In September 2025, the group asked the administration to exempt healthcare workers from the charge, saying it would likely prevent many hospitals from using the H-1B program and could force reductions in services.

The American Medical Association tied the fee debate to a broader staffing problem already facing the healthcare system. The group said the added cost compounds a projected shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036 and puts added strain on hospitals in underserved areas that already operate under financial pressure.

Lawler and Clarke moved on the issue before filing the bill. The two lawmakers previously organized 100 Members of Congress to urge the Department of Homeland Security to exempt the healthcare sector from the fee.

That earlier push placed the healthcare exemption question in front of the administration before Congress turned to legislation. The bipartisan bill now gives supporters a direct vehicle to write the exemption into law rather than rely on administrative relief.

Hospitals that use the H-1B visa program often do so to fill jobs that prove hard to staff domestically, according to the organizations backing the legislation. Supporters of H.R. 7961 argue that adding a $100,000 filing fee on top of existing H-1B costs creates a barrier many providers cannot absorb.

The bill’s language, as described by its backers, does two things at once. It exempts healthcare workers from the new $100,000 charge and bars any further H-1B fees beyond the approximately $5,000 already set by law.

That second piece matters to hospitals and physician groups because it would limit future cost increases inside the same visa category for the covered workers. Supporters have framed the legislation as an effort to hold recruiting costs at the level providers were already paying before the Trump policy added the new fee.

Medical organizations backing the bill have focused much of their case on access to care outside large urban systems. Rural hospitals and facilities in underserved communities often face the hardest recruitment conditions, and supporters say the extra fee makes those positions even harder to fill.

Radiology groups have joined that argument as one part of a wider coalition across specialties. Their support reflects the bill’s broad reach across the healthcare workforce, not only among physicians but also among therapists and other licensed professionals included in the measure.

The Association of Physical Therapy and Qualified Individuals has underscored that wider workforce effect by backing the same bill as physician and hospital groups. Its inclusion alongside the AHA and AMA shows that concern over the fee extends across multiple parts of the care system.

Backers have also tied the cost issue to service availability. The hospital association’s warning that some facilities could reduce services if they cannot afford to use the H-1B program points to possible effects on patient access where staffing is already thin.

Those concerns have sharpened because the fee established in September 2025 dwarfs the preexisting H-1B filing costs cited by supporters. The legislation would restore healthcare employers to the earlier fee structure, which already carried about $5,000 in required charges before the additional $100,000 fee was imposed.

The numbers have become central to the campaign for an exemption. A jump from approximately $5,000 to a filing cost that includes an added $100,000 charge has given supporters a simple argument: the extra expense is too high for hospitals trying to recruit scarce medical staff.

Lawmakers from both parties have attached themselves to that argument. Lawler and Salazar, both Republicans, joined Bishop and Clarke, both Democrats, in introducing the bill, giving the measure bipartisan sponsorship from the outset.

That coalition mirrors the earlier congressional letter organized by Lawler and Clarke. By gathering 100 Members of Congress before the bill was introduced, the two lawmakers signaled that concern over the fee was not confined to one chamber faction or one region.

The bill’s supporters have not presented the measure as a broad rewrite of the H-1B visa program. Their effort is narrower: remove the $100,000 charge for healthcare workers and stop any added H-1B fees beyond the approximately $5,000 already required.

Even that narrower fix would reach a wide range of employers if Congress passes it. Hospitals and other healthcare providers that rely on H-1B workers for physicians, radiologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other medical professionals would no longer face the added fee for those hires.

The debate has unfolded against warnings about future physician supply. With the AMA citing a projected shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, supporters of the legislation have linked visa costs to a workforce gap they say hospitals cannot ignore.

Underserved-area hospitals sit at the center of that case. The AMA said those facilities already operate under considerable financial constraints, a condition that supporters argue leaves them less able to absorb a six-figure filing charge to bring in needed medical workers.

The hospital association’s position has focused on immediate operating effects rather than long-term forecasts alone. Its warning from September 2025 said the fee would likely keep many hospitals from using the H-1B program and could push them to cut services.

Support from radiology organizations adds another layer to the lobbying effort because imaging practices and hospital radiology departments often compete in a tight labor market for specialized physicians. Their endorsement places the bill within a broader campaign by medical specialties that say visa costs now interfere with recruitment.

Congressional sponsors introduced the legislation less than six months after the fee policy took hold. That timeline reflects how quickly hospital, physician and therapy groups moved from administrative appeals to a legislative fix.

The measure now stands as the clearest response from healthcare advocates to the Trump-era fee adopted in September 2025. Radiology groups, hospital leaders, physician advocates and therapy organizations have lined up behind the same message: healthcare hiring should not carry a $100,000 H-1B visa surcharge.