The Alaska Legislature passed a resolution urging the Trump administration to waive a steep visa fee to allow the continued recruitment and hiring of international teachers.
Alaska school districts have increasingly relied on international hiring to fill an ongoing teacher shortage across the state, particularly in rural and remote districts. In the fall of 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order increasing the H-1B visa fee from $5,000 per applicant to $100,000 per applicant — putting such visas out of reach for Alaska districts.
The Alaska Senate unanimously passed House Joint Resolution 39 (HJR 39) on May 12, previously passed by the Alaska House, sending it on to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for consideration.
The H-1B visa program provides non-immigrant visas for highly skilled workers, including in education, healthcare, and technology. In Alaska, districts have relied on international educators, particularly for teaching math, science, and special education, according to the resolution. The visa is valid for up to six years.
Currently, roughly 570 international teachers are working in Alaska via the visa program. And there are over 1,000 teacher and staff openings in Alaska posted on a job board run by the Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center, a division of the Alaska Council of School Administrators.
Alaska school officials say that the new fee is an insurmountable financial burden for districts, as they are in the process of recruiting and hiring teachers for next year.
Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, carried the resolution in the Senate and said that the roughly 2,000% increase in the fee has restricted the flow of critical education professionals coming into the state. “Unfortunately, this means that many of these education professions will go unfilled, we just don’t have the resources to cover that $100,000,” Tobin said on May 13.
“HJR 39 simply asks our federal government to waive this fee,” Tobin said.
The Alaska Legislature’s support and the joint resolution reinforces proposed federal legislation backed by United States Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. It was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Murkowski in March, but has not advanced since then.
