Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all public universities and state agencies to halt processing any new H-1B visas, a move experts argued throws into disarray a small — but crucial — sector of the state’s workforce.
In a radio interview earlier this month, Abbott said he did not see “any reason” for foreign workers at taxpayer-funded institutions. He ordered schools, including campus leadership across the University of Texas System and school districts, to submit detailed reports on new and existing applications for H1-B visas, a process typically administered by the federal government. Until Texas can conduct a sweeping review, Abbott said on Tuesday he has prohibited public universities and state agencies from initiating H-1B visa petitions without written permission from the Texas Workforce Commission through the end of the next legislative session on May 31, 2027.
Such employees make up a small share of the overall workforce in Texas, policy experts told The Texas Tribune, both at higher education institutions and corporations. The jobs companies hire them to do are remarkably specialized, making their skill set difficult to source in the U.S., experts said. And the renewed scrutiny could have a chilling effect on Texas’ momentum in the academic and research fields that have, in part, relied on these workers for their success and reputation.
“The people will have to go home, or have to leave or find a job in another state,” said Faye Kolly, an Austin attorney and founding partner of McChesney Kolly, a law group that focuses on immigration and business-related issues. “Our best state institutions, universities, will have trouble recruiting people, because they can just go elsewhere. They can go to 49 other states, or outside of the U.S. for that matter.”
Here’s what to know about Texas’ new policy on H-1B visas.
What are H-1B visas?
H-1Bs, also known as nonimmigrant visas, are a specific and competitive type of visa that authorizes employers to hire workers from outside the U.S. They were established under the Immigration Act of 1990 during the George W. Bush administration.
The number of visas the federal government can issue annually is set by Congress. The federal government can grant up to 65,000 H-1B visas annually. An additional 20,000 are available for workers with at least a master’s degree from a U.S. university.
The professions that meet the criteria for H-1B are often technical, research-based jobs, encompassing the medical, engineering and research fields, said Chelsie Kramer, Texas state organizer for the American Immigration Council, an immigration law and policy think tank.
Private companies seeking to recruit such workers must apply through a lottery system that awards a limited number of visas annually. They must pay, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars in government and legal fees. And last September, President Donald Trump imposed a $100,000 fee for new applicants. To qualify, applicants must possess a bachelor’s degree.
Public institutions such as universities are not subject to a limit on the number of workers they can hire.
H-1B holders may live and work in the U.S. for up to three years, after which the company must apply for an extension. If granted, the worker can continue working in the U.S. for an additional three years.
How many people are authorized to work under H-1B in Texas?
More than 40,000 people are authorized to work in Texas under H-1B visas, according to data maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In 2026, the Texas workforce reached nearly 16 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Most H-1B employees work at major corporations. Cognizant Technology Solutions, an information technology and consulting company with headquarters in Texas, employs just over 3,000 workers under the program, according to USCIS data. The company with the second-largest population of H-1B workers is Infosys, another IT- and consulting-oriented company with about 2,800 workers on the visa.
H-1B workers at Texas’ public universities comprise a fraction of the workforce. At Texas A&M University, for example, around 200 of the 30,000 total workers — less than 1% — are employed under the visa program. At the Dallas Independent School District, which drew the scrutiny of conservative media and the Attorney General’s office, H-1B workers make up around 1% of the workforce.
Texas public university systems that have medical schools could also be affected by the order and many of them staff the state’s major hospital systems. UT Southwestern Medical Center employs 228 H-1B workers, which make up less than 1% of its 25,000 employees. And at MD Anderson Cancer Center, which employs 27,000 people, there are 171 H-1B visa holders — less than 1%.
It is not immediately clear how many H-1B workers are employed at state agencies. However, agencies such as the Texas Department of Insurance, Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission have been H-1B employers, according to USCIS data.
Can an H-1B lead to permanent residency?
No. While H-1B workers are eligible to apply for legal status through other means, the existing visa does not give applicants an advantage.
Who does the visa freeze affect?
Abbott’s proposed H-1B application freeze only restricts Texas public universities and state agencies from applying for new H-1B visas. H-1B visas are only issued to people with at least a bachelor’s degree. Researchers, professors, physicians, engineers, and several other professions will be affected by the freeze, according to Jason Finkelman, an Austin-based immigration attorney.
The freeze is only pausing new visa applications, so individuals who are currently in the U.S. on an H-1B visa or have an application pending should be unaffected by the freeze, Finkelman said. But once individuals’ visas expire, they will most likely need to apply for a new visa.
The governor’s statement is vague, so it’s difficult to ascertain the exact outcomes of the freeze, according to Finkelman. For example, he’s unsure of whether individuals currently employed at a public university in Texas have the ability to move to another public university within Texas without facing any obstacles related to the freeze.
What could be the consequences of the visa freeze?
Finkelman said both workers and employers have contacted him in the days after Abbott’s announcement with concerns about the freeze. Individuals are worried about losing their jobs in Texas and employers are worried their employees using H-1B visas in Texas will simply work for employers in other states once their visas end.
“Those researchers and professors are just going to go to other US universities,” Finkelman said. “So we’re going to lose the talent we need here for universities, which is going to contribute to our downfall as being leaders in the face of higher education.”
Does Abbott have authority to freeze H-1B applications?
H-1B visas fall under federal immigration policy, which is established and set forth by Congress. Texas state law does not have oversight over the H-1B visa system. So, the freeze instituted by Abbott isn’t a direct freeze on the entire H-1B visa system — it’s a freeze on public institutions in Texas to submit visa applications.
Finkelman said it’s not clear if the state government’s jurisdiction over public universities extends far enough to force them to implement Abbott’s order. Abbott’s ability to enforce this freeze could include withholding funding from universities not upholding the freeze or overseeing all of their hiring decisions, Finkelman said.
Although Texas’ exact level of oversight over public universities is unclear, the state’s power over universities was recently strengthened in Senate Bill 37. The bill reduced the influence of faculty on academic decisions in Texas public universities.
Is the H-1B process being exploited for fraudulent purposes?
Finkelman said although there may be some ways of exploiting the H-1B system he isn’t aware of mass fraud happening in the system.
“The H-1B visa is the most regulated visa in our whole immigration system,” Finkelman said.
He said accusations that the program is being used to recruit employees for cheap labor are likely false because the first step in the process — the labor condition application — restricts employers to a competitive minimum wage set forth by the U.S. Department of Labor. When hiring someone through the H-1B visa process, employers also have to notify employees that an H-1B visa applicant is being hired and must disclose their wage, according to Finkelman.
Finkelman said many of his clients would rather hire employees from the United States, citing lower costs. But many still turn to H-1B visas because they cannot find somebody in the American workforce that has the specific skills for the position they’re looking to fill.
“If there’s fraud in it, I don’t know what it is,” Finkelman said.
Disclosure: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas A&M University, UT Southwestern Medical Center and University of Texas System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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