After raising the H-1B visa fee to $100,000, the Trump administration can now deny visas to foreigners who want to live in America if they are diabetic or obese.
Although there has been no official announcement or confirmation from US authorities, instructions seen by KFF Health News, issued in a State Department cable to posted and consular officials, list the reasons for visa denials.
The report said the guidelines directed visa officials to consider applicants ineligible for entry to the US for several new reasons, including age and medical reasons such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, metabolic disease, neurological disease and mental health conditions.
Visa officials have also been urged to consider other conditions, such as obesity — which can cause asthma, sleep apnea and high blood pressure — when assessing whether an immigrant could become a public nuisance and should therefore be denied entry to the US.
Police officers were also called upon to ascertain whether the applicant had sufficient financial resources to cover the costs.
“Does the applicant have sufficient financial resources to cover the cost of such care throughout his or her expected lifetime without seeking public cash assistance or long-term institutionalization at government expense?” the cable reads.
Meanwhile, in another development, the Trump administration has opened an investigation into 175 potential abuses of the visa program.
The Department of Labor (DOL) launched Project Firewall in September shortly after the administration imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.
“As part of our mission to protect American Jobs, we have opened 175 H-1B abuse investigations. Under the leadership of @POTUS and @SecretaryLCD, we will continue to take action to put American Workers FIRST,” the Department of Labor (DOL) said in a post on X.
Last month, the administration also ended the automatic extension of work permits for non-immigrant foreign workers, a move that is likely to affect Indians as well.
New rules went into effect Thursday ending the practice of automatically renewing employment authorization documents (EADs) for certain categories of foreign workers.
