The public sector of Texas remains beyond the sudden H-1B freeze announced by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, which minimizes the impact on Indians. Though India is one of the countries receiving the highest number of H-1B visas, the concentration is mostly in the IT industry, which is not under the freeze ordered by Abbott. There is no available number showing how many H-1B Indians work in the Texas state departments, state universities, but it is believed to be fewer than the number of IT workers. US immigration lawyer Emily Neumann said the H-1B freeze is “shooting ourselves in the foot” as the universities will now not get new H-1B professors, reseachers and not many Americans are waiting in the wings to take up these roles. There will be a shortage of skilled professors in Texas state universities, teaching hospitals as there is no roadmap on how the posts will be fulfilled, Neumann said.
List of agencies to which the new H-1B freeze applies
The executive direction issued by Governor Abbott directed all Texas state agencies and public universities to halt new H-1B visa petitions until May, 2027 unless they receive permission from the Texas Workforce Commission. This does not impact Texas school districts, cities, counties, local governments, and is limited to agencies that come under the Governor. The freeze is applicable to
- Texas Department of Transportation
- Texas Health and Human Services
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- Texas Workforce Commission
- University of Texas system institutions
- University of Texas at Austin
- UT Southwestern Medical Center
- UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
6. Texas A&M University System campuses
- Texas A&M University-College Station and system research agencies
7. Texas Tech University and associated campuses.
‘Let the reports come out’: Indian lobby welcomes Abbott’s H-1b freeze
Co-founder of Indian-American Advocacy Council Sidharth welcomed the freeze and said a one year-pause on new H-1B filings will bring out an actual audit and actual numbers. “Expose the frauds who have built entire online careers lying about H-1Bs, misrepresenting the Texas labor market, and engagement-farming hysteria while contributing nothing of value. Let the reports come out. Let the numbers speak. Sunlight will burn down the foreign-funded, outrage-driven grift economy surrounding H-1Bs,” he wrote.
