Sponsors (3)
The bill makes it cheaper and administratively safer for public K–12 districts to hire foreign specialty‑occupation teachers to help fill shortages, at the cost of some local fiscal exposure and reduced incentive effects intended to prioritize domestic workers.
Public K–12 school districts can hire H‑1B specialty‑occupation teachers without paying the $100,000 Proclamation fee, lowering hiring costs and making it easier for qualified foreign educators to accept U.S. public‑school positions — which can help relieve local teacher shortages.
The bill preserves existing Proclamation exceptions by adding this exemption 'in addition to' section 1(c), reducing risk that other exemptions would be unintentionally eliminated and maintaining continuity for entities already relying on those exceptions.
Local taxpayers and school budgets may indirectly incur higher staffing costs if districts hire H‑1B teachers who previously were deterred only by the fee, shifting some fiscal burden to communities.
By narrowing the Proclamation's fee reach for school hires, the exemption could lessen pressure on employers to prioritize U.S. workers, potentially undermining policies intended to encourage domestic hiring first.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Exempts H‑1B petitions for specialty‑occupation workers employed by U.S. public schools or school districts from a $100,000 non‑processing payment required by a Presidential Proclamation.
Official title: Exempt public school employees from non-processing related fees for H-1B visas imposed by Presidential Proclamation 10973.
Introduced March 12, 2026 by Lisa Murkowski · Last progress March 12, 2026
Exempts H‑1B petitions for nonimmigrants hired by U.S. public schools or public school districts from a $100,000 non‑processing payment required by Presidential Proclamation 10973. The change narrows the scope of that proclamation’s payment requirement by adding a specific carve‑out for public K–12 employers and the specialty‑occupation workers they hire.