Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday (local time) ordered a freeze on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers at state agencies and universities, calling for skilled Texans to come to work instead of immigrants. He also announced a ban on access to state systems for companies linked to China.
“Texans come first,” Abbott wrote on X when he made the announcement.
“I am ordering state agencies and universities to freeze new H-1B visa petitions. Texas taxpayers invest billions in training our workforce. These jobs should go to Texans,” he said.
In a letter to state agency heads, Abbott said his decision was made in light of “recent reports of abuse of the federal H-1B visa program and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of the program to ensure that American jobs go to American workers.”
“Evidence suggests that bad actors abused this program by failing to recruit qualified American workers in good faith before attempting to use foreign labor,” Abbott wrote.
“Instead of serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet job needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — be filled by Texans,” he added.
What does the H-1B visa order say?
The Texas Governor’s letter states that no state agency or public institution of higher education may apply for new H-1B workers without written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
In addition, agencies and universities must report by March how many new H-1B petitions and renewal applications they filed last year. They are also required to report how many H-1B visa holders they currently sponsor, including details of the workers’ home nations, their current employment in Texas, and documentation demonstrating efforts to provide qualified Texans a “reasonable opportunity” to apply for the same positions.
Who Hires H-1B Visa Workers in Texas?
According to US federal government data, most H-1B visa holders work in the private sector, with IT giants Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp (3,172), Infosys Limited (2,856) and Oracle America Inc (2,690) the top three firms with the most recipients.
Cognizant Technology Solutions US, meanwhile, employs an additional 1,172 H-1b visa recipients, while Tesla, owned by Elon Musk, employs 1,094.
Charles Schwab and Company (574), AT&T (487), KPMG (294), HP (290) and Caterpillar (285) make up the rest of the top 10 for H-1B visa employees.
While private firms are exempt from the current direction, Abbott’s order freezing H-1B applications is expected to hit public universities and hospitals the hardest, with many universities and medical centers employing hundreds of H-1B workers.
Texas bans China-linked tech companies from state systems
In addition to ordering a freeze on H-1B visas for state agencies and public universities, Governor Abbott also announced a ban on China-linked tech companies from state systems, a move he said is aimed at preventing those firms from collecting data on Texans and using state systems.
“We are targeting bad actors who want to harm Texans by infiltrating our state networks and devices,” Abbott said in announcing the ban.
The new restrictions will affect 26 Chinese or China-linked companies, including Alibaba, Shein, Hisense and the e-commerce platform PDD, which operates Temu.
