Rural America Faces New Challenge as $100K H-1B Visa Fee Takes Effect

When Rob Coverdale became superintendent of the Crow Creek Tribal School District in South Dakota in 2023, he faced a serious problem: fifteen empty teaching positions and no local applicants to fill them. Within nine months, those vacancies were filled—thanks to teachers from the Philippines who arrived through the H-1B visa program for skilled workers.

“We hired H-1B teachers because we simply didn’t have any other applicants,” Coverdale explained, according to the Associated Press. “They’re not taking jobs from Americans—they’re filling roles we couldn’t otherwise fill.”

But a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, announced by the Trump administration on Sept. 19, now threatens programs like Coverdale’s that depend on skilled international workers. The administration said the goal is to discourage companies from replacing American workers with cheaper labor from overseas. The White House later clarified that the fee would not apply to current visa holders and that employers can request exemptions.

The H-1B program is widely used by tech companies—especially those hiring workers from India, who make up nearly three-quarters of all approved applications. Yet it’s not just the tech industry that relies on the visas. Across the country, teachers, doctors, and other critical professionals have also come through H-1B and J-1 programs, helping to fill chronic labor shortages.

In the past decade, the U.S. has faced growing shortages in education and health care. One in eight public school positions is either vacant or filled by uncertified teachers, while the American Medical Association projects a shortage of up to 87,000 physicians in the next ten years. The problem is especially severe in rural areas, where low pay and limited housing make it hard to attract and keep skilled workers.

While large corporations may be able to absorb the new H-1B fee, small towns and rural districts cannot, says Melissa Sadorf, executive director of the National Rural Education Association. “That kind of cost could equal the salary and benefits of one or even two teachers, depending on the state,” she said. “Attaching that price tag to a single hire simply puts that position out of reach.”

On Friday, a coalition of educators, hospitals, and faith-based organizations filed a lawsuit to block the new H-1B fee, arguing it would devastate schools, health care systems, and community institutions that rely on skilled international workers to serve where Americans often won’t.

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