Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday ordered the state’s public universities to “cease the use of these H-1B visas at our universities.” In doing so, the Republican appeared to call for his state to go further than President Trump in restricting the entry of these foreign employees — an issue that has divided prominent conservatives.
Since fiscal year 2022, Florida’s public universities have hired nearly 2,000 employees through the H-1B program, nearly half of whom are at the University of Florida. The number of new visas issued under the program is capped at 85,000 each year, but colleges, universities and some other organizations are exempt from this cap. In the first three quarters of 2025, nearly 16,800 university employee visas were approved; 395 of them were for jobs at public universities in Florida. Universities use the program to hire teachers, physicians and researchers they deem necessary to meet needs in health care, engineering and other fields.
Last month, Trump announced that the H-1B visa application fee would be $100,000. USCIS said the fee will apply to new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21 and must be paid before the petition is filed. It said exceptions to the fee may be made in “extremely rare circumstances” where the Department of Homeland Security determines that the alien’s presence in the United States is “in the national interest.”
People have filed lawsuits over the fee, and higher education associations and institutions have spoken out against it. The Trump administration says employers are abusing the program to avoid hiring Americans.
In a speech at the University of South Florida on Wednesday, DeSantis called on the state board that governs public universities to “stop” workers on H-1B visas. He did not mention any exceptions.
If the ban goes ahead, it would be another example of red states going further than the Republican-controlled federal government in restricting public higher education institutions. In states like Texas and Ohio, Republican politicians have outdone Trump in regulating curriculum and limiting teachers’ rights. Before Trump returned to office, DeSantis put Florida at the forefront of conservative higher education reforms, from cracking down on what he called “woke” education to putting allies in charge of universities — a move that other states have followed.
However, it’s unclear whether the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s public universities but not its public colleges, will follow DeSantis’ directive. Fourteen of the board’s 17 members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
It’s unclear exactly what his directive means; unlike his speech, a press release issued by the governor’s office on Wednesday did not recommend the termination of all H-1B visa employees at public universities.
But neither the Florida State University System nor the governor’s office responded with more details. Inside higher educationQuestions about DeSantis’ intentions. A press release from the governor’s office said DeSantis directed the board to “combat H-1B visa abuses in higher education,” but did not repeat the governor’s explicit call for an outright end to H-1B employment.
University of Florida interim president Donald Landry spoke at a news conference after DeSantis and mentioned that his institution was named.
“This is a complex issue and we can talk about it,” Landry said, drawing laughter from the audience. He did list one benefit, saying the H-1B is primarily used by the University of Florida to hire new faculty from international students.
“Sometimes a few bright lights might be enough for faculty and staff, and then we try to retain the people we’ve invested a lot of money in,” he said.
He added that the University of Florida is conducting its own review of the H-1B program. “We know that even in academia, H-1B is not handled in a pristine way,” he said.
Robert Cassanello, president of the Florida Union College Alliance and a tenured associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida, said banning H-1B visa holders is illegal.
“You can’t discriminate against someone because of their foreign birth,” Casanello said. “My biggest question is: Where is the authority?”
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In his speech, DeSantis began criticizing the H-1B program from a national perspective. “Tech companies would lay off Americans and hire H-1Bs at a discount, and they were basically indentured servants… They were indentured to the company, so the company could basically pay them very low wages,” he said.
He then moved on to the University of Florida, seemingly reading from a list of positions held by H-1B holders at unnamed institutions. (His office did not provide the list Wednesday.)
After mentioning a public policy professor from China, DeSantis said, “Why do we need people from China to talk about public policy?” Later — apparently checking the information of another H-1B holder — he exclaimed: “Wuhan, China!”
While DeSantis’ complaints were primarily directed at so-called international scholars from China, he did not spare scholars from other countries.
“Assistant swimming coach from Spain, on H-1B visa – are you kidding me, we can’t produce assistant swimming coaches in this country?” he said. Then he turned his attention to the Middle East.
“A clinical assistant professor from the West Bank, a clinical assistant professor from so-called Palestine,” he said. “Is all they do is social justice? That’s the University of Florida.”
“We need to make sure Florida citizens have access to jobs first,” DeSantis said, but he also said he didn’t fully understand why universities hire H-1B workers.
“I think there’s probably a reason for that,” DeSantis said. “But I think it’s a poor reflection on some of the decisions that some universities have made to try to say they need H-1B visas to do some of these jobs… We can do that with Florida residents or Americans, and if we can’t, then – man – we need to really dig into what’s going on.”
Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and director of the Office of Government Relations at the American Council on Education, said DeSantis’ move will limit universities’ ability to hire the best researchers.
“Obviously, this is going to have a huge impact on Florida institutions,” Spreitzer said.
Casanello, who said his union includes some H-1B holders, called DeSantis’ speech a “xenophobic and nativist diatribe.”
“He’s a nativist, he’s anti-immigration, so he’s making these decisions that have no basis in fact,” Cassanello said. He also said DeSantis opposed diversity, equity and inclusion programs as anti-meritocracy, but now, “all of a sudden, he’s willing to throw out the meritocracy.”
“He exploited fear of people of color and fear of immigrants to impose his will on the operations of our public colleges and universities,” Cassanello said. He said the speech represented “a further attack by DeSantis and our state’s political leaders on the autonomy of our public colleges and universities.”
