Florida universities cannot hire new employees under H-1B visas until Jan. 5, 2027.
The Florida Board of Governors paused the program at its meeting Monday, with two members dissenting. Kimberly Dunn and Carson Dale, the board’s faculty and student representatives, respectively, opposed the ban. Two people also spoke against the move during public comment.
The change comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged the board to “pull the plug” on H-1B visas Oct. 29, 2025. At the time, UF Interim President Donald Landry said he would support a review of the program at UF.
H-1B visas permit U.S. employers to hire college-educated foreign citizens for up to six years. During that time, recipients can apply for permanent citizenship.
UF leads state universities in H-1B hires. In the 2025 fiscal year, UF approved 253 H-1B visas, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The university with the second-largest number of approved visas was Florida State University at 110.
Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, confirmed current H-1B hires will be able to renew their visas during the yearlong pause. Visa renewals are also not subject to the $100,000 fee President Donald Trump imposed on all H-1B visas Sept. 21, 2025.
Opposition to the pause
The pause was set to be voted on during the board’s consent agenda, which groups non-controversial items together into a single vote. However, Dunn and Dale moved to vote on the measure in a separate discussion, allowing each board member to open the floor for commentary or debate.
“I recognize that this is a pause and not a ban, but I do think that this creates a serious reputational impact for our universities,” said Dale, Florida State University’s student body president and only student voting member of the board.
Dunn, Florida Atlantic University’s faculty senate chair and the only voting faculty member, spoke after Dale and echoed his opinion.
“I’m still concerned about the lasting effect on our reputation and on our ability to recruit the best faculty in the world,” Dunn said.
Two public commenters also shared their opposition to the H-1B visa pause.
Connor O’Brien, a fellow for the nonpartisan think tank Institute for Progress, said he understood the board’s concern about H-1B visas potentially being abused in university hiring processes. However, the proposed pause would “go much further” and create difficulties in finding global talents, he said.
O’Brien specifically voiced concerns about how the H-1B visa pause would affect UF Health, where he said many physicians and surgeons are sponsored by H-1B visas.
The Institute for Progress analyzed first-time H-1B visas filed between 2017 to 2022 by Florida universities, he said.
“Among the 1,300 approved petitions, at least 315 were for physicians, Ph.D. scientists or STEM faculty,” O’Brien said.
Mike Sanderson, a public commenter who has appeared in previous board meetings, also spoke against the ban.
“I myself lived and worked full-time in mainland China from 2006 to 2012,” he said. “Regarding the ban on H-1B visas … I think it’s too blunt an instrument, even though there are legitimate concerns.”
Discussion from the board
Adam Levine, the Board of Governors chair, said the purpose of the pause was to collect data on H-1B visa hires. He added he’s been in communication with university presidents and faculty for feedback.
“I wanted to hear directly from … Donald Landry, given his background as a physician, and also because the University of Florida does have a significant operation at UF Health,” Levine said. “UF, uniquely, has a lot of faculty that rely on the H-1B visa.”
Ken Jones, one governor on the board who is also the founder and managing partner of global private investment firm Third Lake Partners, said he looks forward to seeing the collected data.
“I want to be very clear to the extent that we are engaging in activity where we are abusing the system,” Jones said. “We need to expose that. We need to talk about it.”
Contact Leona Masangkay at lmasangkay@alligator.org. Follow them on X @leo_amasangkay.
Leona is a second-year journalism student and the Spring 2025 University Administration reporter. They previously worked as the Santa Fe reporter. In their free time, Leona enjoys going to the gym, watching Marvel movies and traveling the country for music festivals.
