Texas H-1B Freeze: What Democratic Wins Mean for Visa Rules

Republicans lost all three Texas offices behind the state’s H-1B crackdown on Nov. 3, and each measure can be undone without a vote of the Legislature.

The Texas H-1B freeze on state agencies and public universities lost its author on Nov. 3, when Gov. Greg Abbott was defeated by Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Democrats also won the attorney general’s office that has been investigating H-1B employers and the agriculture post that barred state grants to businesses employing H-1B workers. Public universities, research hospitals and the IT staffing firms under state investigation have the most riding on what the new officials do in January.

Hinojosa is the first Democrat elected Texas governor since Ann Richards in 1990, CBS News Texas reported. The Associated Press called the attorney general race for Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson, according to KPRC in Houston, and the Texas Tribune reported that Democrats “wiped out every other statewide Republican office” and took the Texas House. Republicans kept the state Senate. The winners take office in January 2027.

Three H-1B measures, three offices changing hands

Texas acted against the federal H-1B program through three separate officials, and none of the three measures is written into state law.

Measure	Imposed by	How it was done	Who controls it from January 2027
Freeze on new H-1B petitions by state agencies and public colleges and universities, through May 31, 2027	Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Jan. 27, 2026	Letter to agency heads; exceptions only with written Texas Workforce Commission approval	Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D)
Civil investigative demands to nearly 30 North Texas businesses over suspected H-1B fraud	Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), begun January, widened April 30, 2026	Investigative demands for employee, financial and operations records	Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson (D)
Bar on Texas Department of Agriculture grants to businesses employing H-1B workers	Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R), Oct. 28, 2026	Department announcement, effective immediately	Democrat Clayton Tucker, who defeated Republican Nate Sheets

Sources: Office of the Texas Governor letter (Jan. 27, 2026); KERA News (April 30, 2026); Texas Department of Agriculture release (Oct. 28, 2026); election results as reported by NBC DFW, KPRC and the Texas Tribune (Nov. 4, 2026).

The governor’s freeze is the easiest to lift. Abbott imposed it by letter, not by statute, and it covers agencies run by his appointees plus public colleges and universities; agencies led by other elected officials were exempt, Axios reported. A directive issued by letter can be withdrawn the same way, and the Texas Tribune noted that Hinojosa could “revoke executive orders Abbott has imposed.” The freeze was already set to expire May 31, 2027, at the end of the next regular legislative session. Extending it by statute would now need a Democratic House and a Democratic governor to agree, which makes that path unlikely.

Hinojosa has not said what she will do. In a Feb. 2 campaign statement she argued that Abbott “goes after cancer researchers and professors in our public institutions” while large private H-1B users received property tax breaks he signed. That criticizes whom the freeze targeted; it is not a pledge to rescind it.

The stakes are concentrated in a handful of institutions. Texas had more than 41,000 H-1B recipients in fiscal 2025, according to federal data cited by Axios, and the top sponsors included Dallas ISD (230), UT Southwestern Medical Center (228), Texas A&M’s flagship campus (214), UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (171) and UT-Austin (169).

What happens to the fraud probe and the grant ban

Paxton’s investigation accuses IT consulting firms of running “ghost offices” so they appear active enough to sponsor foreign workers, KERA reported. “I will not allow the H-1B program to be abused by bad actors seeking to use it as a loophole for allowing foreign nationals to invade Texas,” Paxton said in April. Whether Johnson continues the probe is unclear, India’s National Herald reported, citing the news agency IANS. Johnson said during the campaign that he would not pursue purely political lawsuits, The Texan reported.

For the companies, that choice matters less than it seems. A state attorney general can close a civil investigation, but H-1B fraud remains a federal matter for USCIS site visits, Labor Department wage enforcement and Justice Department prosecutors. The Justice Department’s investigation of how Infosys classified H-1B workers shows that federal track is active.

The grant ban was on borrowed time already: Miller lost the March Republican primary, and his Oct. 28 announcement named no grant program or compliance process. Tucker now decides whether it survives.

A state test case for the national H-1B fight

Texas was the clearest example of a state using its hiring, investigative and spending powers against a federal visa program. Florida has paused H-1B hiring at its public universities, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has blamed Republican losses on the party’s failure to shut the program off. Supporters of the Texas measures, like Miller, argue that taxpayer money should put Texas workers first; Hinojosa’s campaign argued the freeze fell hardest on cancer research and teaching.

A reversal in Austin would not touch federal H-1B rules, including the $100,000 fee on certain new petitions. Until a new governor acts, the freeze stays in force, and covered agencies and universities still need written Texas Workforce Commission approval to file.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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