APA Services helped secure key exemptions in a proposed H-1B visa fee rule, protecting higher education, research, and nonprofit teaching institutions that rely on international psychology talent.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing a new $103,265 fee for H-1B visa petitionsopens in new window subject to the annual cap, which would have implications for employers seeking highly skilled foreign workers. However, importantly for psychology education, research, and practice, the fee would not apply to institutions of higher education, certain nonprofit and governmental research organizations, national laboratories, and nonprofit teaching hospitals. These exemptions help universities, academic medical centers, and research institutions recruit international faculty, researchers, clinicians, and trainees. They are a result of advocacy from APA Services and many of its coalition partners.
When DHS first sought to implement this proposal last fall, and was ultimately blocked by a federal court, APA Services joined the health professions education community (PDF, 74KB)opens in new window in calling for the health professions workforce, including psychologists, to be exempt from the fee. The current proposal preserves the types of exemptions APA Services and its partners urged DHS to recognize.
APA Services will continue to monitor the proposed rule, as well as other actions being taken by the administration that would impact international students and scholars, and assess their implications for psychology education, research, workforce development, and access to behavioral health services.
For more information, email Kenneth Polishchuk.