H-1B visa freeze in Texas: Governor Greg Abbott says ‘Texans come first’ in local employment push; bans Chinese firms

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday (local time) ordered a freeze on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers in state agencies and universities, calling for jobs to go to qualified Texans instead of immigrants. He also announced a ban on China-linked firms from state systems.

"Texans come first," wrote Abbott on X, making the announcement.

"I’m directing state agencies and universities to freeze new H-1B visa petitions. Texas taxpayers invest billions to train our workforce. Those jobs should go to Texans," he said.

In a letter to the heads of state agencies, Abbott said that his decision had been taken in light of "recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers."

"Evidence suggests that bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor," Abbott wrote.

"Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — have been filled by Texans," he added.

In addition, agencies and universities have to report by March how many new H-1B petitions, as well as renewal requests, they submitted 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 present occupation in Texas, and documentation showing efforts to provide qualified Texans with a "reasonable opportunity" to apply for the same positions.

Cognizant Technology Solutions US, meanwhile, employs another 1,172 H-1b visa beneficiaries, while Elon Musk-owned Tesla, 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, with regard to H-1B visa employees.

While private firms are exempt from the current direction, Abbott's order on freezing H-1B applications are expected to hit public universities and hospitals the hardest, with many universities and medical centres employing H-1B workers in the hundreds.

“We are targeting bad actors who aim to harm Texans by infiltrating our state networks and devices,” Abbott said, announcing the ban.

The fresh restrictions will apply to 26 companies, including Alibaba, Shein, Hisense and the e-commerce platform PDD, which operates Temu.