The Florida Board of Governors voted Monday to put a 10-month hiring freeze in place for candidates on H-1B visas at all of its public universities. The moratorium does not impact workers who are currently employed or up for renewal on those visas.
H-1B visas are used by employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialized or technical professions that usually require a bachelor’s degree or more training. The visas are good for three years at a time, with extensions of up to six years allowed.
Recipients are chosen by a lottery and must be sponsored by an employer.
The hiring moratorium for these workers will take effect immediately and stay in effect at least through January 5, 2027.
All of Florida’s 12 public universities will be affected to varying degrees. The University of Central Florida employs fewer than 50 people on these visas.
Connor O’Brien, a fellow at the Institute for Progress, a national, nonpartisan STEM think tank, spoke during public comment against the policy.
He said the hiring freeze impacts scientific researchers and professors along with doctors the most.
“Using data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, IFP analyzed successful first-time H-1B petitions filed between 2017 and 2022 by universities under this board's jurisdiction. Among the 1,300 approved petitions, at least 315 were for physicians, PhD scientists or STEM faculty,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien went on to emphasize that this action could make it so that universities, medical schools and their associated teaching hospitals may not be able to attract doctors in hard-to-find specializations that provide Floridians with life-saving care.
“Crucially, the ban as written, also applies to UF Health, which regularly sponsors physicians and surgeons using the H-1B visa, doctors who serve many of the more than 3 million Floridians who visit a UF Health facility annually across the 67 counties,” O’Brien said.
UF Health Central Florida operates major hospital campuses, emergency rooms and specialty practices in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, focusing on The Villages, Leesburg, and surrounding areas.
Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine called on universities to let him know if this hiring freeze impacts Floridians’ access to life-saving medical care, as amendments could be made.
In October, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Florida’s public higher education institutions to stop hiring workers on H-1B visas. At the time, he said they were taking American jobs.
But universities have pushed back, saying the H-1B visa program helps them fill open positions in high-demand fields within STEM disciplines.
The United Faculty of Florida has said it will be difficult to fill open positions in departments like engineering without these workers.
Florida’s public universities currently employ over 1,000 faculty and staff on H-1B visas. The majority work at the University of Florida.
The decision comes just days before the H-1B lottery is expected to open. That could happen on March 4.
Along with this limit on international faculty and staff, the Florida Legislature is considering a bill that would restrict international and out-of-state students at Florida universities.
The bill, House Bill 1279, would require Florida’s public universities to keep at least 95% of their enrollment as in-state residents, with only 5% for out-of-state and international students. Although this bill is headed to a full vote of the House, similar bills in the Florida Senate have not moved past their first committee. The session ends next week.
