New $100,000 fee for H-1B visas could hurt teacher recruitment for NC schools
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- New $100,000 H-1B visa fee raises costs for NC schools hiring foreign teachers
- Districts like Halifax and Wayne rely on H-1B visas to address teacher shortages
- Education leaders urge DHS to exempt schools citing national interest provision
A new $100,000 fee on H-1B work visas could make it harder for North Carolina schools to fill teaching positions during a time when thousands of vacancies still exist statewide.
The Trump administration says it’s protecting American jobs by raising the permit fee for companies to bring in new overseas workers on an H-1B visa. But schools that have come to rely on the H-1B visas say they need to be exempted because the $100,000 fee per worker is too high for them.
“While we respect the administration’s efforts to ensure fairness and national security in the immigration process, the proposed $100,000 fee per H-1B application would create a significant barrier for nonprofit, tax-exempt, and public institutions like ours. Simply put, most schools could not sustain such costs,” said Fatih Sahin, a spokesperson for TMSA Public Charter Schools, which operates charter schools across North Carolina, including in Wake and Mecklenburg counties.
“Without an exemption, the result could be a severe shortage of qualified teachers at a time when schools nationwide already face staffing challenges.”
President Donald Trump’s order issued Friday empowers the secretary of Homeland Security to exempt certain individuals, companies, and entire industries from the $100,000 fee if they determine doing so “is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”
The Trump administration has not issued any exemptions since the rule went into effect Sunday. The $100,000 fee is about 50 times higher than what some employers had previously paid per application and is more than double the starting salary for beginning teachers — unlike the salaries of tech workers who account for most H-1B visas.
According to federal records, at least 758 education services H-1B visas have been approved in North Carolina at the K-12 and higher education levels. The $100,000 fee, which is expected to be challenged in court, will only apply to new applications and not to existing H-1B visa holders, the administration clarified in a follow-up memo.
Which NC school district relies most on H-1Bs?
Launched in 1990, the H-1B program has paired foreign workers who have bachelor’s or higher degrees with employers who say they can’t find qualified U.S. candidates for specialized jobs. Visas can last up to six years, though workers who begin the green card application process may remain in the program as long as their employer continues to sponsor them.
Most H-1B holders are male, Indian nationals, and hired in the technology sector. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google and Apple are five of the six top visa recipients this year. Supporters say the program addresses persistent sector shortages while opponents on the political left and right contend some employers have exploited the system to find cheaper workers with less job mobility.
But alongside major corporations, the list of North Carolina employers hiring H-1B workers includes the state’s biggest universities and many K-12 districts.
Some schools have also turned to the H-1B program to fill positions because fewer people in this country want to become teachers. Even though teacher vacancies are down compared to a year ago, a survey by the N.C. School Superintendents’ Association found that school districts opened the new school year with 2,155 teaching vacancies.
“With university systems no longer graduating prospective teachers at the same rate they once did, school districts are heavily competing with other school districts for a smaller pool of teacher candidates entering K-12 education through traditional pathways,” said Ken Derksen, a spokesperson for Wayne County Public Schools.
Wayne County has the most H-1B visas of any North Carolina school district at 47, followed by 31 in Halifax County. TMSA Public Charter Schools has 22 people employed on an H-1B visa.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has 20 employees on an H-1B visa. The district said in a statement Wednesday that the new fee is cost prohibitive so they’d prioritize other strategies to recruit staff.
Rural districts use H-1B program to hire teachers
A $100,000 fee to bring in new teachers on an H-1B visa would be particularly difficult for a poor rural school system such as Halifax County in northeastern North Carolina.
Halifax County uses the H-1B program in part because it already has difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers.
Halifax County has the highest fourth-highest teacher turnover rates in the state at 15.3%. Last year, it had a 25% teacher vacancy rate on the first day of classes, compared to 6.3% statewide.
Halifax County Schools did not return emails and voicemails from The News & Observer requesting comment.
Schools want exemption to $100,000 fee
A potential out for schools is the Department of Homeland Security can grant “case-by-case exemptions if in the national interest.” It’s unclear if schools will qualify because Homeland Security is supposed to “prioritize high-skilled, high-paid H-1B workers” in the wake of President Trump’s order.
Exemptions for schools would clearly fall into the category of national interest, according to Sahin of TMSA.
“Exempting schools from the proposed fee would help ensure that students continue to have access to the high-quality instruction they deserve, while still upholding the principles of fairness and accountability in the immigration process,” Sahin said.
In addition, Derksen of Wayne County Public Schools said they want to know whether current H-1B holders will be exempted from the $100,000 when they renew their visa or transfer to work in another school district.
“Ultimately, like other school districts, WCPS will have to strengthen its ongoing recruitment efforts in other areas, as it will no longer be able to use this particular visa program as a viable option to employ new international teachers to fill teacher vacancies,” Derksen said.
Hiring teachers from Participate Learning
Restrictions on the use of H-1B visas would not eliminate hiring new foreign teachers for North Carolina schools.
Many schools also use Chapel Hill-based Participate Learning to recruit international teachers. Participate Learning brings teachers into the U.S. under a J-1 visa used for cultural exchange programs.
A J-1 visa lasts for a maximum of five years. An H-1B visa lasts up to six years but can renewed.
The Wake County school system only has three employees on an H-1B visa. It gets most of its 240 international teachers from Participate Learning.
Database editor David Raynor contributed.
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM.
