Rural Health Providers could be collateral damage from $100,000 Trump visa fee

Bekki Holzkamm, lab manager at West River Health Services in rural North Dakota, has been trying to hire a technician since late summer. But not one U.S. citizen has applied. West River will have to pay a new $100,000 H-1B visa fee — or request an exemption — if it wants to hire one of its foreign applicants. (Kathrine Abelita).
Bekki Holzkamm, lab manager at West River Health Services in rural North Dakota, has been trying to hire a technician since late summer. But not one U.S. citizen has applied. West River will have to pay a new $100,000 H-1B visa fee — or request an exemption — if it wants to hire one of its foreign applicants. (Kathrine Abelita).

Bekki Holzkamm has been trying to hire a lab technician at a hospital in rural North Dakota since late summer. Not one U.S. citizen has applied.

West River Health Services in Hettinger, a town of about 1,000 residents in the southwestern part of the state, has four options, and none of them are good.

The hospital could fork over $100,000 for the Trump administration’s new H-1B visa fee and hire one …