The ongoing controversy over the $100,000 H-1B visa fee in the US has California’s technology industry and other businesses reeling. But another group is also on edge: the state’s teaching industry.
California, which employs more teachers on H-1B visas than any state except Texas and North Carolina, according to a National Education Association analysis of federal data, could soon face a severe teaching staff crisis if the current state of affairs continues.
How many foreign teachers does California employ?
Last school year, as many as 294 H-1B visas were granted to the state’s school districts, compared to 193 in 2018-19, according to the California Department of Education. The visas are typically good for three years with a possible three-year extension.
Data from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing showed that more than 300 H-1B applications were submitted in the 2023-24 academic year, double the number recorded two years earlier, according to The Los Angeles Times.
A report from the Learning Policy Institute revealed that by June 2025, there were at least 45,852 teaching vacancies across the US. While that number may seem small compared to the nation’s total teaching workforce of about 3.5 million (according to the National Center for Education Statistics for the 2020–21 school year), it actually hides the severity of the broader teacher shortage problem.
Teachers voice their grievances
Teachers affected by the visa system have voiced frustration. A physical education teacher on a J-1 visa told the Los Angeles Times that “Everybody says here that they need teachers in California but they don’t want to do anything to [help us stay] here.” An H-1B elementary school teacher added, “I feel like it’s a form of discrimination to impose a $100,000 fee for teachers.”
What is California doing about the crisis?
The Californian government has sued US President Donald Trump over the H-1B visa curbs. This year alone, over 32,000 classrooms in California were staffed by out-of-field teachers, while 10,000 teaching positions remained unfilled, according to the California Teacher’s Association, indicating that the restrictions are already severely impacting the state’s education system.
Eighteen other states have also filed a lawsuit with a US District Court, naming multiple federal agencies as defendants, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Department of State, and Department of Justice.