Texas A&M Filed 57 Certified H-1B Applications After Abbott's Freeze Order

What Abbott directed — and when

On January 27, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott sent a directive to all state agencies and public universities ordering an immediate halt to new H-1B visa petitions. The order cited concerns about abuse of the federal visa program and directed institutions to prioritize Texas workers for taxpayer-funded positions.

The directive was explicit: no new H-1B petitions without written TWC permission. Institutions were also ordered to submit detailed reports by March 27, 2026 listing all 2025 filings, current H-1B holders, job titles, countries of origin, and evidence of efforts to recruit Texas candidates first.

The Texas A&M System initially appeared to acknowledge the order. Spokesman Chris Bryan told reporters that the system had already stopped sponsoring H-1B petitions requiring the new $100,000 federal fee imposed by President Trump in September 2025. What Bryan did not mention: the system kept filing petitions for positions not subject to that fee — and kept filing them for nearly two months after Abbott's order.

58 days of filings after the freeze

Federal LCA disclosure data from the Department of Labor covers all H-1B Labor Condition Applications through March 25, 2026 — 58 days after Abbott's order. In that window, entities across the Texas A&M System filed 61 new LCAs. Fifty-seven were certified by DOL. Only four were withdrawn.

The surge in November 2025 (100 filings in a single month) likely reflects the system scrambling to file applications before Trump's $100,000 H-1B fee took effect — and before the political climate shifted further. But the filing pace did not stop when Abbott issued his order in late January. February 2026 saw 39 filings system-wide, and March added 22 more through the 25th.

Professors, postdocs, engineers — and a $248,000 physician

The post-order filings were not administrative oversights or renewals already in the pipeline. They were new positions across a range of academic and professional roles. Assistant Professor was the most common title, with 19 certified filings after the order — suggesting active faculty hiring continued uninterrupted through at least late March 2026.

The highest single salary in the post-order filings was a Clinical Assistant Professor position at $248,040 — filed on February 11, 2026, just 15 days after the order. Also notable: three software developer positions filed in February and March, and a TTI Assistant Research Engineer at $122,080 from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

Day by day after the freeze

The first post-order filing came just 8 days after Abbott's directive. Below is every date on which the system filed new LCAs after January 27.

All 57 certified post-order filings

Every certified H-1B Labor Condition Application filed by the Texas A&M System after January 27, 2026, sorted by date. Case numbers link to DOL records. Source: DOL OFLC LCA Disclosure Data FY2026 Q1–Q2.

* Highlighted rows indicate particularly notable positions. Data ends March 25, 2026 — the most recent available DOL disclosure.

What this means

The DOL data is unambiguous: the Texas A&M University System filed 61 new H-1B Labor Condition Applications after Governor Abbott's January 27, 2026 freeze order, 57 of which were certified by the federal government. The filings span 9 campuses and system entities, involve three separate immigration attorneys, and include positions ranging from postdoctoral researchers to a $248,040 physician and a $145,000 Deputy Chief of Party.

Two questions remain unanswered by the data alone. First, did any of these entities obtain written permission from the Texas Workforce Commission as required by Abbott's directive? The TWC has not published a public list of approved exceptions. Second, does the A&M System believe that any or all of these filings qualify as renewals or continuations rather than "new" petitions — a distinction that could affect whether they constitute violations of the order.

The Texas A&M System had 210 active H-1B holders as of September 30, 2025 — the third-largest count among Texas educational institutions. Governor Abbott's order was directed squarely at institutions like A&M. The federal record shows the order was not followed.

Explore full Texas state employee data at guestworkervisas.com/tx_employees.php