New visa fee alarms districts that need foreign teachers

There is a new cost to hiring a new international worker to fill a vital but otherwise vacant position in a California classroom: $100,000

- Sopuig SULLIVAN AND ALINA TA

A PHYSICAL education teacher in West Contra Costa Unified will move his family back to Mexico partly because of the new visa fee.

In September, the Trump administration began requiring American employers to pay a $100,000 sponsorship fee for new H-1B visas, on top of already required visa application fees that amount to $9,500 to $18,800, depending on various factors. These visas allow skilled and credentialed workers in multiple job sectors to stay in the U.S.

Most foreign workers on H-1Bs in California work in the tech sector. But California also relies on H-1B visas to address another issue: a nationwide teacher shortage and a high demand for staff in dual-language education and special education in K-12 districts.

Data from the California Department of Education show school districts filed more than 300 visa applications for the 2023-24 school year, double the number from just two years earlier. Educators and school officials say their overseas workers on visas are highly skilled and instrumental in multilingual education and fill historically understaffed positions in special education.

Now education leaders are sounding the alarm that the high additional fee for overseas workers will worsen the strain on California’s public education system.

The concerns come as California and a coalition of other states announced Friday they are suing the Trump administration over the policy, calling it a threat not only to major industry but also to public education and healthcare services.

A teacher shortage in California