Nick Long, Mayor of League City in Texas has joined the H-1b visa debate publicly. Long recently said in an X post that no public organisation should use the H-1B program, arguing taxpayer-funded jobs should go to taxpayers in response to Texas State University’s filing for a Public Relations Specialist role. Nick Long’s comments came in response to a post announcing that the Texas State University (@txst) has filed a notice of intent to hire an H-1B Public Relations administrator.The debate began after Texas State University filed a notice of intent to sponsor an H-1B visa for a Public Relations Specialist position. The filing prompted Scott Bowen, Republican nominee for Texas House of Representatives, to share the post on his timeline writing: “Texas State graduates hundreds of communication majors every year. Not one of them was qualified for this job?”.Nick Long quoted the post and wrote: “No public entity should be using H-1B program. Taxpayers should get taxpayer funded jobs”.
Public universities are H-1B cap-exempt
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA § 214(g)(5)(A) and (B)), certain categories of H1B petitions are exempt from the annual numerical cap of 65,000 (plus 20,000 master’s cap). This means they can sponsor eligible foreign workers for H-1B visas throughout the year without participating in the annual lottery. The exemption also applies to nonprofit entities affiliated with higher education institutions and certain nonprofit or government research organisations.In other news, a new research indicates a projected decline in international student enrollment for Fall 2026. Preliminary analysis by NAFSA: Association of International Educators and JB International shows cascading effects on US economic contribution and jobs supported. This downturn reflects the convergence of several headwinds: declining application volumes, persistent visa appointment bottlenecks, and newly restrictive immigration policy changes.
