A Green Card lying on an open passport, close-up, full frame
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Increasing immigration fees will take a toll on long-term care providers that heavily rely on those workers — especially during such a dire workforce and economic crisis, according to a coalition of industry representatives.

In a Monday letter to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services led by the American Health Care Center / National Center for Assisted Living, a coalition of 20 organizations representing long-term services and supports providers and stakeholders asked the federal government to consider operational methods to save costs rather than increasing costs for the same level of service.

Under the proposal announced in January, a key change would increase H-1B cap registration fee from $10 to $215 — a more than 2,000% increase. Approximately one in four direct care workers were born outside of the United States, according to AHCA/NCAL. 

“Increased fees take a toll on LTC communities that rely heavily on immigrants to care for their residents — yet the organizations themselves have limited funds and fixed government resources,” the letter read. “While we understand that it has been six years since certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees have been increased, we believe there are other options available rather than increasing fees.”

Among the suggestions the coalition provided for reducing costs, reducing the agency’s workload and providing better service were moving to an email notification system rather than mailing receipt notices, requests for evidence and approval notices. 

The coalition also asked USCIS to consider additional alternatives to reduce the need for applicants to contact the agency, including continuing automatic work authorizations while the agency considers extensions, and allowing L-2 spouses to have work authorization upon arrival in the United States rather than applying for a separate work authorization.

In addition, the group asked that work continue on addressing processing delays on immigrant petitions for registered nurses. Healthcare employers often use the premium processing method to expedite those petitions within 15 days at the Texas Premium Processing Center, but it can take four to six months for those files to make their way to the National Visa Center.

“We hope that USCIS will place a key focus on ways to expedite the immigrant visa process to bring much needed healthcare workers to the US,” the letter concluded. 

In addition to AHCA/NCAL, signers included the American Seniors Housing Association, Argentum, LeadingAge and AMDA — The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.