GOP proposal seeks to end ‘backdoor hiring practices’ at universities

EXCLUSIVE: A new Republican proposal introduced on Wednesday would scrap the H-1B visa exception for higher education staff.

There is currently a 65,000-person cap for the visa, with exceptions for higher education and other select groups, including an extra 20,000 that can be doled out to those with master’s degrees or beyond.

The “Colleges for the American People Act of 2025” from Rep. Tom Tiffany would repeal the carveout made in the Immigration and Nationality Act, and have those from other countries seeking to work in higher education go through the normal H-1B visa process.

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“American students spend years earning degrees, only to watch universities hand good-paying jobs to foreign workers on special visas,” Tiffany said in a statement. “The CAP Act ensures our institutions invest in the people they are meant to serve and ends the backdoor hiring practices that undercut American workers.”

The proposal would not be retroactive, so current H-1B visa holders at universities could still apply for their extension without going towards the limit.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia. 

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The conservative outlet Wisconsin Right Now reported that there are 495 staffers in Wisconsin’s university system who have the visa, which comes with roughly a $43 million annual price tag for salaries.

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For fiscal year 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services got enough petitions for the H-1B visa caps as of last week. The visas continue to be a major point of debate across the political spectrum, as some argue that they boost business capabilities in the United States, especially in the technology sector. 

Others, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, have blasted them as exploitative.

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“The main function of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad,” the Vermont senator posted to X in January. “The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”

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As of 2019, there were just under 600,000 H-1B visa holders, according to USCIS data. The Trump administration could make other reforms to the program soon, according to GovTech. 

Besides H-1B visas, student visas in some cases have also recently come under fire, particularly at Harvard University. The State Department announced on Wednesday that they are looking into whether it can continue to be part of the Exchange Visitor Program due to “national security” concerns.