Foreign medical residents fill critical positions, but run into visa issues

Some hospitals in the United States are without essential staff because international doctors who were to start their medical training this week have been delayed by the Trump travel and visa restrictions.
We do not know exactly how many foreign medical residents could not start their assignments, but six medical residents questioned by the Associated Press say that they have followed years of training and work only to be stopped on the finish line by what is generally a procedural stage.
“I do not want to abandon,” said a permanent Canadian resident that corresponded to the Pittsburgh University Medical Center, Harrisburg, but was refused her visa because she is a citizen of Afghanistan. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “But the situation also seems helpless.”
Initially, the medical community feared hundreds of positions – many in the hospitals in low -income or rural areas in the United States – can be affected. The break on interviews for J-1 visas for approved work or study programs was lifted in mid-June.
The national non -profit organization which facilitates the residence match process said that the visa situation was resolving, but it will take weeks to know with the confidence in the number of medical residents had the start of their derailed career because they obtained their visa too late or were blocked by the travel ban by President Donald Trump on 12 countries, according to people who coordinate the training of residents.
Four foreign medical residents told AP that the American embassies were slow to open niches of interviews – and some have not opened.
“You waste the time you could have used to treat patients,” said a Pakistan resident, which corresponded to an internal medicine program in Massachusetts and asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
The United States is expected to face a shortage of doctors over the next 11 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, and foreign medical residents fill critical gaps in the health system. More than 6,600 international medical residents born abroad equaled American programs in 2025 – the highest registered – and 300 other positions were vacant after the end of the match process.
All these residents were not affected by visa issues or the ban on traveling to foreign nationals of countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan.
International medicine graduates often occupy jobs in places where American medical trainees tend not to go, said Donna Lamb, president of the national residents’ counterpart program.
“It is not only that they arrive and that they want to work in large flashy centers on the coast,” said Lamb. “They really provide health care to all of America.”
Residents of foreign doctors work in specialties to which American candidates are not also eager to apply. For example, international candidates represent almost 40% of residents in internal medicine, which specializes in the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
“Residents are the backbone of all the hospital,” said Dr. Zaid Alrashid of the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York, who has medical residents of almost all continents. Most received their visas before the break, but a few were taken in delays.
Two residents of India who spoke under the guise of anonymity were unable to obtain an appointment in the American embassies there despite the Visa J-1.
Another resident of Egypt has just guaranteed a visa meeting for mid-August, but fears that its program is not willing to wait for it. She has already paid her security deposit for an apartment in Texas to live during her residence.
“I do not know when this situation will be resolved,” said the resident, who spoke under the guise of anonymity, adding that she had not eaten well or slept well.
In California, the leaders of two graduate medical education programs said they had a small number of residents taken in J-1 visa delays. The two spoke under the cover of anonymity due to concerns for doctors who are still trying to obtain visas.
A leader of residence in a large health care system said that two doctors in his 150 resident program were delayed, adding that they could start late or rely next year. A program of 135 people in a California public health system said that a resident had not yet been arrived, although it was finally planned for a visa interview.
“We are not going to breathe easily before he is here in our hospital,” said the second chef.
On Wednesday, the Lamb’s counterpart program had received less than 20 requests to postpone or cancel residence contracts.
Worried about losing their places if they recover, many foreign medical residents could continue to reach the United States and start their residences late, said Dr. Sabesan Karuppiah, a former member of international graduates of the American Medical Medical Administration and former director of a residence program.
Some hospitals may find it difficult to replace residents who do not do so, leaving fewer people to take care of the same number of patients, said Kimberly Pierce Burke, executive director of the independent university medical centers.
Foreign medical trainees that have entered the United States remain next to their situations, said Karuppiah.
“I can tell you that the word on the street is:” Do not leave the country, “he said, adding that people lack important events, see sick parents or even get married. “Everyone is afraid to leave, not knowing what will happen.”
—
The Department of Health and Sciences of the Associated Press receives the support of the Department of Science Education from Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.