Immigration restrictions are sidelining many foreign-born doctors and nurses who would otherwise be able to care for patients at medical facilities swamped by the coronavirus pandemic, despite federal efforts to relax requirements for health-care professionals.
Hospitals sponsoring doctors on H-1B visas must list every facility where the doctor will work when they petition for a guest-worker. That makes it impossible for doctors on H-1B visas to quickly assist nearby hospitals inundated with sick patients or where doctors on staff are quarantined and can’t come to work. The problem is especially acute in rural areas, where foreign-born doctors working on certain ...