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The AHA today expressed concerns with the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (S. 386/H.R.1044), legislation that would eliminate the per-country cap for immigrant visas. “Eliminating the per-county cap would have a crippling effect on hospitals and health systems because the foreign-trained nurses we need each year to fill critical nursing jobs then would be reduced by 77% to 100% over the next five years and beyond,” the association said in a letter to the Senate. “If this happens, health care for Americans would clearly suffer. In rural areas and inner cities, we simply won’t have fully-staffed hospitals. If Congress chooses to change the structure of legal immigration processing in S. 386 and H.R.1044, the AHA asks that the health care needs of our patients be addressed by an amendment. This addition would provide a carve-out from visa caps for a reasonable number of immigrant nurses each year and provide immediate immigrant visas to foreign-born physicians when they complete their training and community service.”