DeSantis Cracks Down on H-1B Hiring in Florida Universities

(TAMPA, FLORIDA) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on October 29, 2025 directed the Florida Board of Governors to bar public universities from hiring foreign workers through H-1B visas, moving to end their use across the state’s public higher education system and immediately intensifying a Desantis crackdown that he framed as a defense of jobs for Florida residents.

“I’m directing today the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities,” he said at a press conference in Tampa, describing the program as a pipeline for “cheap labor” and “indentured servitude” that, in his view, crowds out American workers.

The order targets hiring at state universities that has long relied on H-1B visas to staff academic, research, athletic, and administrative roles. DeSantis argued that these positions should be filled by Florida residents or other U.S. workers, especially at a time when he said domestic employees are facing layoffs tied to artificial intelligence and federal workforce reductions.

“We need to make sure our citizens here in Florida are first in line for job opportunities,” he said.

He questioned why campuses were bringing in foreign nationals for jobs ranging from assistant professors to coaches and analysts.

“Why do we need to bring someone from China to talk about public policy? An assistant swim coach from Spain on an H-1B visa? Are you kidding me? We can’t produce an assistant swim coach in this country?” he asked, citing examples that have become a flashpoint for his administration’s broader push to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

State records cited by DeSantis’ office show the scope of H-1B visas in Florida’s economy. As of June 30, 2025, more than 1,900 Florida employers were sponsoring over 7,200 H-1B visa holders statewide. In the education sector alone, 78 employers sponsor 677 H-1B beneficiaries. Within higher education, the University of Florida is the most prominent sponsor with 156 H-1B beneficiaries, followed by the University of Miami with 90 and the University of South Florida with 72. At the University of South Florida specifically, 72 H-1B visa holders were employed during the 2025 fiscal year, underscoring how deeply these visas are woven into staffing across teaching, research, and support roles.

DeSantis listed nationalities and job titles to argue that state universities had grown too dependent on international hires. He pointed to hiring examples tied to the United Kingdom, China, Spain, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Poland, Albania, Argentina, and the West Bank. The governor also highlighted individual roles held by H-1B professionals at Florida universities, including an assistant professor from China, a bioanalytical core director from Poland, a psychologist from the United Kingdom, and a graphic designer from Canada. The examples were meant to illustrate how diverse, and in his view unnecessary, many of these placements have become across state universities.

The governor’s directive instructs the Florida Board of Governors to impose the hiring prohibition, which university leaders expect the board to formalize at its next meeting on November 6, 2025. While the state can block future sponsorships by public institutions, it cannot cancel federal visas already issued, a legal limit that DeSantis acknowledged as the new policy takes shape. University administrators and faculty leaders are now looking for guidance on how the ban will be implemented, which jobs might be exempted, and whether current employees on H-1B visas will be allowed to complete their terms or seek alternative sponsorship outside the state system.

Donald Landry, interim president of the University of Florida, attended the Tampa event and aligned himself with the governor’s review. He said he “endorses” the review of H-1B visas and offered a narrow scenario in which international hires might continue under stricter guardrails.

“Occasionally, some bright light might be good enough, in fact, and then we will try and retain the person. But that’s kind of the exception of truth,” said Landry, indicating that any allowances would be rare and limited to exceptional cases.

His remarks signaled a potential approach that prizes retention of standout individuals but rejects routine use of H-1B hiring across departments.

The announcement threads into a larger Republican agenda that seeks to reduce dependence on foreign labor across sectors. DeSantis and former President Donald Trump have both advocated stricter immigration controls, and the Florida move lands about one month after the Trump administration proposed a $100,000 application fee for future H-1B visas. That price tag, if adopted, would represent a dramatic increase in costs for employers and would further restrict access to the program. The convergence of state-level hiring restrictions in Florida and a potential federal fee hike has created a pincer for universities and other institutions that have relied on H-1B visas to fill specialized roles.

DeSantis placed Florida’s universities squarely within a broader state efficiency push modeled after the federal Department of Government Efficiency. Under that framework, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia will oversee audits of state universities for waste, fraud, and abuse, with H-1B hiring among the practices under review. The governor’s team has framed the effort as part of a statewide realignment to reduce costs and prioritize Florida workers, while shifting institutions away from what DeSantis called unnecessary reliance on foreign hires for jobs he believes local candidates can do.

The immediate impact of the order will be felt most in departments and labs that have leaned on H-1B hires to support research, teaching, analytics, student services, and athletics. University HR offices typically synchronize hiring cycles with visa sponsorship windows; the new directive will force adjustments to hiring plans underway for the next academic year and could delay job offers or prompt searches to be re-opened for U.S. citizens or permanent residents. For the University of Florida, with 156 beneficiaries tied to H-1B visas, and for the University of South Florida, with 72 H-1B workers employed during the 2025 fiscal year, the change will be especially disruptive as units evaluate which roles can be shifted to domestic hires and which may require temporary workarounds.

The move is also expected to ripple beyond classrooms and labs, touching roles that are less visible to the public but central to university operations. DeSantis cited positions that include coaches, data analysts, coordinators, and marketers, underscoring that the ban isn’t limited to tenure-track faculty or principal investigators. By calling out appointments associated with countries as varied as China, Spain, Canada, Poland, and Trinidad and Tobago, the governor set out to show the breadth of the practice, not only in academic specialization but in the day-to-day workforce of state universities.

Florida cannot revoke federal immigration benefits already granted, and states have no authority to cancel federal visas that are in effect. But by cutting off new sponsorships in the public higher education system, the policy is likely to reduce the pipeline of international talent into Florida’s universities over time. The largest groups of H-1B holders in U.S. higher education and technology come from India and China, and the ban is expected to hit those communities hardest in Florida as departments that once recruited globally are told to prioritize Florida residents and other U.S. workers for open roles.

For students and researchers who planned to come to Florida on H-1B visas, the timeline will matter. Departments that had extended offers contingent on H-1B sponsorship will need to revisit those decisions ahead of the Board of Governors’ expected formal vote on November 6, 2025. Some offers may be withdrawn; others may be rewritten to fit different employment categories if possible, though universities have not detailed any alternatives. Units that rely on specialized technical staff in labs and centers could face recruitment gaps if previously identified H-1B candidates can no longer be hired.

The governor’s remarks suggest little appetite for carve-outs.

“We need to make sure our citizens here in Florida are first in line for job opportunities,” he said, framing the issue as one of fairness to domestic workers at a time of technological and organizational churn.

Notably, DeSantis used examples like “an assistant swim coach from Spain on an H-1B visa” to argue that roles he sees as non-specialized should be filled without turning to international recruitment. Whether and how universities argue for exceptions—for instance, in cases of unique scientific expertise or ongoing grant-funded projects—will become clearer after the board codifies the ban.

Interim leaders and trustees have begun to echo the governor’s stance, though with caveats about maintaining excellence in areas where recruiting is global by nature. Landry’s comment that “Occasionally, some bright light might be good enough, in fact, and then we will try and retain the person. But that’s kind of the exception of truth,” captures the balance universities may try to strike: limiting sponsorship, prioritizing U.S. hires, and reserving rare exceptions for standout candidates. His choice of “endorses” to describe his position on the review of H-1B visas signaled institutional alignment with the governor’s plan, even as departments brace for challenging transitions.

In practice, the statewide freeze at public universities will intersect with what could become the most expensive federal environment ever for H-1B sponsorship if the proposed $100,000 fee advances. The combined pressure of a state-level hiring ban and a potential federal cost barrier would change the calculus for many institutions, not only in Florida but for any private or out-of-state employers competing for the same candidates. For now, Florida’s directive is narrower: it applies to state universities and aims to end their role as sponsors of H-1B visas, redirecting hiring toward U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

DeSantis’ team has tied the move to broader concerns about workforce changes accelerated by artificial intelligence and federal workforce reductions, themes the governor referenced as he argued for reserving jobs for Floridians. Supporters of the policy see it as a reset for state universities that will push them to cultivate local talent pipelines for roles that range from entry-level analysts to mid-career coaches and senior staff. Critics, including many in academia, have warned in other contexts that limiting international hiring can affect research output, grant competitiveness, and global rankings, but Florida officials did not engage that debate directly in the Tampa event, focusing instead on the headline shift: halting H-1B sponsorship at state universities.

As the Board of Governors prepares to act, university systems are expected to detail compliance steps and issue guidance to departments on open searches, pending offers, and existing staff. Florida officials emphasized that institutions will be required to fill positions with U.S. citizens or permanent residents, with rare exceptions aligned with Landry’s description of a “bright light.” The scope of those exceptions, if any, will become a focal point for deans and department chairs accustomed to recruiting internationally for faculty and specialized staff.

The numbers underscore why the change matters. With 156 H-1B beneficiaries at the University of Florida, 90 at the University of Miami, and 72 at the University of South Florida, the state’s largest campuses have come to rely on the program for a share of their workforce. Statewide, the 677 H-1B beneficiaries sponsored by 78 education-sector employers sit within a broader landscape of more than 7,200 H-1B visa holders tied to over 1,900 Florida employers. Ending new sponsorships at public universities will narrow one of the avenues that international professionals—especially from India and China—have used to enter Florida’s research and higher education ecosystem.

DeSantis’ language left little doubt about his intent to draw a bright line.

“I’m directing today the Florida Board of Governors to pull the plug on the use of these H-1B visas in our universities,” he said, returning repeatedly to the idea that Florida residents should be first in line for jobs.

The Board of Governors is expected to formalize the ban on November 6, 2025, setting the stage for rapid changes in hiring practices across the system. For now, state universities are assessing how quickly they can pivot searches, reassign duties, and prepare for a future in which H-1B sponsorship is off the table.

For readers seeking official information about the H-1B category, federal details are available on the USCIS H‑1B program page. But the core change in Florida is clear: a state-level order to stop public universities from sponsoring H-1B visas, part of a broader shift to curtail foreign labor in favor of local hiring. Whether the Board of Governors adopts limited exceptions, as hinted by University of Florida leadership, will be closely watched by departments that had planned international hires. Until then, the directive stands as one of the most concrete actions yet in Florida’s effort to reshape hiring at state universities and to channel jobs, in DeSantis’ words, to “our citizens here in Florida.”