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).
Lab technician Kathrine Abelita is one of nine workers — six technicians and three nurses — at West River Health Services in rural North Dakota who are current or former H-1B visa holders. The visa is for highly skilled foreign workers employed in fields in which companies struggle to hire enough workers who already live in the U.S. (Bekki Holzkamm)
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 …