AHCA/NCAL led a
letter that includes 20 national long term care (LTC) related organizations to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on their
proposed increase in immigration fee changes. As AHCA/NCAL
commented in January:
“We are disappointed in this proposed fee increase as our long-term care providers are already experiencing a dire workforce and economic crisis. We hope that the USCIS will take into consideration long-term care facilities that rely heavily on immigrants to care for their residents as well as fixed government resources.”
In the letter, the Coalition notes that while we understand that it has been six years since certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees have been increased, we believe there are other options available rather than increasing fees. Increased fees take a toll on LTC communities that rely heavily on immigrants to care for their residents -- yet the organizations themselves have limited funds and fixed government resources. We asked that USCIS consider operational methods to save costs rather than increasing costs for the same level of service, as there is no indication that the proposed increased fees will improve service.
Approximately 1 in 4 direct care workers were born outside of the U.S. AHCA/NCAL has led and endorsed various efforts to expediate immigrant visa processing for health care workers who wish to work in the U.S. AHCA/NCAL is also advocating for common sense immigration reform as part of its workforce solutions proposed in our reform agenda, the
Care For Our Seniors Act.
Read the full letter to USCIS
here.