New York : Florida’s public universities could be barred from hiring employees through the H-1B visa programme for roughly a year under a policy proposal set to be considered later this month. According to a report by US news outlet, Politico, the State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors is expected to vote on January 29. Universities in Florida, like several other American states, rely heavily on the H-1B programme to staff research labs and academic departments.
DeSantis, a member of the US Republican Party, has been a long time critic of the H-1B visa programme, arguing that universities were deliberately exempting qualified American citizens in favour of foreign immigrants whose salaries were paid with US taxpayers’ money. Universities across the country are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job, DeSantis had declared last year. We will not tolerate H-1B abuse in Florida institutions.
The H-1B visa programme allows US employers to recruit highly skilled foreign professionals for specialised roles, including research and advanced technical positions. Universities across the country, including those in Florida, rely heavily on the programme to staff research labs and academic departments. Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that the University of Florida, the state’s flagship institution, employed 253 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2025.
Nearly three dozen higher education groups have since urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to exempt colleges and universities from the fee. According to a Politico report, in an October letter, American Council on Education President Ted Mitchell argued that such an exemption would mirror higher education’s longstanding exclusion from the annual H-1B cap of 85,000 visas.
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