Donald Trump answers a question from a reporter during an event on maternal healthcare in the White House on May 11, 2026. The Trump administration says it wants more physicians, but its immigration policies have reduced the flow of doctors to the United States. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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The Trump administration says it wants more physicians, but its immigration policies have reduced the flow of doctors to the United States. Trump officials have stated that more doctors would tame health care costs and improve health outcomes for Americans. The economic literature supports the proposition, yet the administration has lowered the potential supply of physicians by imposing new immigration restrictions. Critics say the administration must change its immigration policies to help patients, particularly in underserved areas.
According to a National Foundation for American Policy study by University of North Florida economics professor Madeline Zavodny, “The foreign born are especially likely to be working as physicians and surgeons,” with over 26% of physicians and surgeons foreign born. Many physicians come to America as international medical graduates.
A Disconnect Between The Need For Physicians And U.S. Immigration Policy
The Trump administration has promoted solutions to address the lack of access to healthcare for many Americans. However, those solutions do not mention foreign physicians as a means of boosting the supply of medical providers.
In April, the White House promoted a Council of Economic Advisers report on physicians and health care. “The Trump Administration has already taken a number of steps to correct the distortions caused by prior government policies that have disfavored rural Americans and independent physicians,” according to the report. “By addressing both supply-side and demand-side causes of past challenges, the Administration is proactively working to equip the U.S. healthcare system to meet the Nation’s needs, lower prices, and improve access and quality.”
At the same time that administration officials have promoted efforts to “improve access and quality” in health care, they have also continued a yearlong effort to restrict foreign-born physicians from working in America.
First, in May 2025, the Trump administration paused the issuance of visas to J-1 applicants and others. The majority of international medical graduates enter U.S. residency and fellowship programs on J-1 visas. Following training, many remain in the United States through programs such as Conrad 30, which allows physicians to continue practicing in exchange for service in medically underserved communities. In many rural areas and other underserved locations, these foreign physicians may be among the few available medical providers.
Second, the Trump administration blocked the entry of individuals, including medical professionals, from 39 countries via two proclamations. Six or seven of the countries, such as Nigeria, are a significant source of foreign doctors, according to analysts.
Third, in Sept. 2025, Trump officials imposed a $100,000 fee on the entry of new H-1B visa holders. Few hospitals, particularly in rural areas, can afford to apply for an H-1B visa for a physician if they must pay an additional $100,000. On June 8, in a ruling that applies nationwide, a federal judge struck down the $100,000 fee on H-1B visa holders. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.
Fourth, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow “paused” the adjudication of all applications for individuals from the 39 banned countries. A federal court recently declared the action unlawful, but the administration will likely appeal. Several weeks after the memo announcing the pause, USCIS said it would allow applications for physicians already inside the country to be processed.
“We’re now in a perfect storm when it comes to the physician shortage,” said Greg Siskind of Siskind Susser in an interview. “American senior citizens are soaring as a percentage of the population, the physician population is aging rapidly, the average number of hours being worked by physicians has decreased, on average, and technology and medical research advances have increased demand for physician services. This is exactly the wrong time to mess with the supply of international doctors.”
Not The First Time The Administration Has Ignored Immigration
This is not the first time that Trump officials have ignored policy solutions that conflicted with their priority to restrict immigration. In July 2025, the White House released an AI Action Plan that omits the role of U.S. immigration policy in providing American companies access to talent in cutting-edge fields. The plan does not mention immigrants or international students, even though they compose a significant portion of America’s researchers and entrepreneurs in artificial intelligence. It also does not discuss U.S. universities’ ability to educate American students and conduct AI research.
A National Foundation for American Policy study concluded, “Immigrants have founded or cofounded nearly two-thirds (65% or 28 of 43) of the top AI companies in the United States, and 70% of full-time graduate students in fields related to artificial intelligence are international students.”
Those who have worked on the issue say immigration policy can play a crucial role in alleviating the lack of physicians if the White House or Congress chooses to take positive steps. Such actions would include ending the restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, exempting physicians from H-1B and employment-based green card limits, recognizing foreign residency training from Canada, the EU and similar places and expanding the J-1 waiver programs. “America should be training more doctors domestically,” said Greg Siskind. “But we haven’t. And when taxpayers finally put the resources into dramatically increasing the homegrown supply of physicians, it will take 10 to 15 years before we start to see results. In the meantime, a lot of people are going to suffer.”