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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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While H-1B visa filings fell across most of the United States between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2025, applications surged in Republican-held suburban districts in Texas, according to a new analysis of federal labor data by LayoffHedge.
The study, which examined 6.9 million federal Labor Condition Applications (LCAs), found that the nation's eight fastest-growing congressional districts for H-1B demand over that six-year span are all represented by Texas Republicans.
LCAs are a mandatory filing step that employers must complete before petitioning for H-1B visas. While they measure corporate demand for foreign skilled labor, they do not represent final visas issued or individual workers.
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The findings stand in contrast to national trends. Of the 243 congressional districts that recorded sufficient filing activity to be included in the growth analysis, fewer than a quarter posted gains between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2025. While Democratic-held districts continued to account for the majority of H-1B filing volume nationwide, the strongest recent growth was concentrated in a handful of suburban Texas districts. The median Democratic-held district saw filings fall by 30 percent, while the median Republican-held district recorded an 18 percent decline.
Suburban Texas, however, proved to be an exception. Ten of the 20 fastest-growing districts in the nation are in Texas, and 15 of those top 20 are represented by Republicans. In Texas’s Third Congressional District, represented by Representative Keith Self, certified filings rose 242 percent, climbing from 1,388 in FY2019 to 4,748 in FY2025. In the neighboring 26th District, represented by Representative Brandon Gill, filings rose 217 percent, from 2,010 to 6,374.
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The remaining Texas districts rounding out the top eight nationwide recorded similar gains. Filings jumped 145 percent in District 31, represented by Representative John R. Carter, and 126 percent in District 10, represented by Representative Michael T. McCaul. Further south, District 22 under Representative Troy E. Nehls rose 69 percent, while Representative Morgan Luttrell’s District 8 saw a 58 percent increase. Rounding out the group were Representative Chip Roy’s District 21, up 48 percent, and Representative Pat Fallon’s District 4, which grew by 47 percent.
Newsweek has contacted the members of Congress for comment via email and is awaiting responses.
Because the study maps filings to current congressional boundaries, "Republican-held" and "Democratic-held" refer to the party holding a district today, not the party that represented the area when the filings were made. Several of the lawmakers associated with the fastest-growing districts were not serving in Congress for the entire 2019-2025 period.
Representative Brandon Gill, for example, first took office in 2025, while Representative Morgan Luttrell entered Congress in 2023 and Representative Keith Self in the same year.
An H-1B visa is a temporary U.S. work visa that allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that typically require at least a bachelor's degree or equivalent expertise. The program is commonly used to recruit professionals in fields such as software engineering, information technology, healthcare, finance, engineering, and scientific research.
Employers must first file a LCA with the Department of Labor before petitioning U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for an H-1B visa on behalf of a worker. The visa is generally granted for up to three years and can be extended, with some workers remaining longer while awaiting employment-based green cards.
The surge in Texas comes against a flurry of new federal restrictions. Under the Trump administration, officials have dismantled the traditional H-1B lottery to favor high earners, expanded thousands of dollars in biometric screening fees to extension filings, and proposed removing the 60-day window laid-off immigrants use to find new work. Judges have already checked part of that agenda, striking down a proposed $100,000 fee on new overseas petitions.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive ordering all Texas state agencies and public universities to immediately freeze the initiation and filing of new H-1B visa petitions. The pause will remain in place through May 31, 2027—the conclusion of the Texas Legislature’s 90th Regular Session—unless the Texas Workforce Commission grants written approval.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and James Debens
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