LeadingAge joined 20 national health and long-term care services and support organizations to send a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 6, addressing its proposed increases to immigration and naturalization benefit request fees charged by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The letter reiterates LeadingAge’s strong support of our nation’s immigrants who make up a large portion of the long-term care workforce, as 25% of direct care workers are born outside the U.S.

The “increased fees could take a toll on long-term care communities that rely heavily on immigrants to care for their residents,” the letter says, and asks USCIS to consider implementing operational changes to save costs and offers ideas for consideration. Additionally, the letter urges USCIS to focus on ways to expediate immigrant visa processing to bring much-needed health care workers to the U.S. and requests USCIS continue its work to address delays in the “file transfer” associated with premium processing of I-140 Immigrant Petitions for Registered Nurses.