Visas Held Up for Doctors from Abroad Due to Start Residencies Next Week

J-1 visa applications are still suspended, leaving hundreds of doctors from abroad with no way to start their residencies at the start of July 2025.

Foreign doctors who come to the USA for graduate training in a specialty as resident doctors usually do so on J-1 visas for exchange visitors. Some communities that do not have enough doctors depend on medical residents to ease the shortage.

Last week the State Department told embassies and consulates that they can start doing visa interviews again, but visa applicants must set their social media accounts as public so they can be vetted.

Many embassies have not resumed visa interviews. Some doctors that have been able to attend visa appointments have been told they need to go through more vetting. Some are denied visas because they originally came from nations whose citizens a recent executive order by Donald Trump banned from entering the USA. Visas for people from 12 countries are suspended. Visas for people from 7 other countries are partially restricted.

The doctors were already required to pass medical licensing exams in order to be able to serve a medical residency in the USA, at a cost that can be above $2000.

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