ASGE joined national physician organizations on a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging that H-1B visa graduate medical education trainees be exempt from a new order issued under proclamation by President Trump on Sept. 19, 2025.
This proclamation implements a $100,000 fee, to be paid by the prospective employer, upon initial application for an H-1B visa beginning on September 21, 2025. The proclamation does not provide an exception to graduate medical education trainees. It does, however, give the Department of Homeland Security Secretary discretion to create an exception to the fee if it is in the national interest and it doesn’t pose a threat to the U.S. security or welfare.
In the letter, organizations asked Secretary Noem to consider that all physicians, including medical residents, fellows, researchers, and those working in non-clinical settings, are critical to our national interest and should therefore be exempt from the proclamation