NIGERIAN doctors are expected to benefit from a recent policy reversal by the United States government, which now allows physicians to resume visa applications and processing after months of restrictions.
News Point Nigeria reports that earlier this year, the US imposed a blanket visa ban on several countries, including Nigeria, citing national security concerns.
The policy affected many foreign medical professionals, including a large number of Nigerian doctors, as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended visa renewals and processing for affected applicants.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), international medical graduates account for about 25.6 per cent of active physicians currently practising in the United States.
A 2024 global health workforce database also identified Nigerians as the sixth largest group of foreign doctors in the US operating under the J-1 visa category, although holders of the H-1B visa were not included in the ranking.
However, in what observers described as a significant policy shift, USCIS last week quietly updated its website to indicate that medical physicians are no longer subject to the visa processing hold.
The update was made without a formal public announcement.
“Applications associated with medical physicians will continue processing,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a separate statement made available to The New York Times.
The AAMC had earlier warned that the United States currently faces a shortage of approximately 65,000 physicians.
The organisation added that the shortage is projected to worsen over the next decade as the American population continues to age and more doctors retire from active service.
Concerns over the restrictions had prompted strong reactions from several medical associations in the US.
On April 8, groups including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Academy of Pediatrics jointly wrote to the US secretaries of state and homeland security.
In the letter, the associations expressed what they described as “urgent concern” over barriers preventing “qualified, vetted physicians” from entering and remaining in the United States.
They also called for a national-interest exemption for foreign physicians affected by the policy and urged authorities to expedite visa processing for medical professionals.