International Doctors Start Residencies At U.S. Hospitals Amid COVID-19 Surge

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More than 4,000 foreign-born doctors officially begin their residencies at hospitals across the United States today. They’ll confront two historic challenges: The coronavirus pandemic and some of the most restrictive immigration policies this nation has seen in decades.

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The pandemic shuttered immigration offices inside the U.S as well, creating enormous challenges for international doctors already working here.

«The uncertainty has been really stressful the last couple of months,» said Dr. Chandana Kamireddy, a native of India who was living in Ohio with her husband and their 20 month old child when the pandemic hit.

«I was actually on the front line taking care of COVID patients as an attending physician at my hospital where I was working,» Kamireddy said.

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Dr. Chandana Kamireddy, a native of India who was living in Ohio with her husband and their 20 month old child when the pandemic hit.

Chandana Kamireddy

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Chandana Kamireddy

Dr. Chandana Kamireddy, a native of India who was living in Ohio with her husband and their 20 month old child when the pandemic hit.

Chandana Kamireddy

Kamireddy was supposed to move to Tennessee to start a fellowship in oncology this month. In order to change jobs, Kamireddy needed to get a different visa. But the offices U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which would typically handle visa changes, were closed to the public. And time was running out.

Then Kamireddy heard from other foreign doctors on Facebook that the U.S. consulate in Mexico was open for visa interviews. So she got on a plane to Mexico.

«I’m not here as a tourist,» she said in an interview from her hotel room in Mexico City. «I’m just taking a chance right now, like traveling outside of the country and then trying to get my visa as soon as possible.»

Kamireddy did get her visa. A few days later, the White House announced its new proclamation limiting foreign guests workers and immigrants.

That proclamation exempted the visa program used by doctors coming here for residency training. But immigration lawyers say it’s unclear if international specialists and doctors who have completed their training will be able to get H-1B visas under the new restrictions unless they are treating patients with COVID, or are involved in research on the coronavirus.

I asked Kamireddy and Basim Ali what it’s like to be treating American patients at a time when the Trump administration is doubling down on its immigration crackdown.

Kamireddy said it was difficult for her family – and the hospital in Tennessee, where she’s starting her fellowship today. «It was stressful for them as well, because they didn’t know if I was going to be starting on time or not,» she said.

From his new home in Texas, Ali also said he doesn’t believe that the president speaks for all Americans. Ali says his hospital is glad to have him, and he’s eager to get to work.

«I do still have a lot of hope,» Ali said, «because the view of one person does not, at least for me, color the view of the people that I get to meet and interact with everyday, like the patients and my co-workers.»