Doctors and medical residents in the United States could be exempt from the new $100,000 visa fees imposed by the Trump administration on the H1-B skilled worker visa.
Although it is not yet set in stone, Taylor Rodgers, a white house official made this known in an email to Bloomberg News on Monday.
“The Proclamation allows for potential exemptions, which can include physicians and medical residents,” read the email excerpt which was posted on X by Bloomberg Journalist Ed Ludlow.
According to the white house, the order which was signed by President Trump on Friday and came into effect on Sunday 21st September include "case-by-case exemptions if in the national interest."
Trump's new visa fees for foreign workers drew widespread condemnation from technology executives, entrepreneurs and investors across America with companies warning its employees to avoid international travel or return as soon as possible until the new order was clarified.
Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration.
The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a post on his X account "These programs guarantee that recipients who come to work in America must provide significant benefit to our great country.
We are ending workers taking jobs away from hard working Americans and taking advantage of our economy and providing nothing in return." he said.
The number of foreign science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers in the U.S. more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 to nearly 2.5 million, even as overall STEM employment only increased 44.5% during that time.
The move could add millions of dollars in costs for companies, which could hit smaller tech firms and start-ups particularly hard.
The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually to employers bringing in temporary foreign workers in specialized fields, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees.
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Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
U.S. Central Command said 101 commercial vessels have been redirected in the Strait of Hormuz, while oil prices rose more than three per cent amid fresh regional attacks and supply concerns.
A Russian strike on a farm warehouse in Pryluky, north-central Ukraine, has killed at least three people, local police said. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said an attack on a train near the Polish border was an attempt to intimidate Ukraine's allies.
China will lead the creation of an open source platform among BRICS members to promote cooperation on large language models, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.
A drone hit a petrol station in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv early on Tuesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that there was also a strike on warehouse facilities in another part of the city.
Every day since a torrent of mud and rocks destroyed a Nepal-China border crossing high up in the Himalayas last month, Arushi Gupta's parents have called and messaged their missing daughter hoping she somehow survived.
Foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand delivered opening statements on Tuesday at the first meeting of a UN arbitration process to resolve a long-running maritime dispute between the two Southeast Asian neighbours.
A federal judge has halted a Trump administration immigration policy that would have significantly changed how long foreign students, exchange visitors and international journalists can remain in the United States.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has expressed cautious optimism about ongoing discussions with the United States regarding Greenland, signalling that Copenhagen believes a cooperative solution can be reached despite years of political tensions surrounding the strategic Arctic territory.
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