State university leaders in January will tackle Gov. Ron DeSantis’ directive to end the use of H-1B visas that allow foreigners to be hired faculty, the university system’s Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said Thursday.

The new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas spells trouble for rural parts of the U.S. that rely on immigrants to fill vacancies in skilled professions.

In what appears to be the first major challenge to the new $100,000 fee required for H-1B visa applications, a coalition of health care providers, religious groups, university professors and others filed a federal lawsuit Friday to stop the plan.

The Trump administration’s abrupt decision to slap a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas has stunned and confused employers, students and workers from the United States to India and beyond.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the H-1B visa program during a news conference on Monday, criticizing how certain tech companies lay off American workers only to replace them with H-1B visa holders.

The H-1B visa has long been a highly coveted employment visa for foreign citizens with specialized skills to live and work in the U.S.

The social media company founded by former President Donald Trump applied for a business visa program that he sought to restrict.

The U.S. issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas each year in sectors including technology, engineering and medicine. Most of the nearly 600,000 H-1B visa holders in the U.S. are from India and China. The H-1B rules announced weeks before the election were part of President Donald Trump's wider agenda to curb nearly all forms of immigration. In June, he issued an order temporarily suspending the H-1B program until the end of the year. "This is incredibly important decision to preserve the H-1B program,” said attorney Paul Hughes, who represented the plaintiffs.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to sharply limit visas for skilled workers from overseas, a move officials said was a priority amid job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump in June issued an order temporarily suspending the H-1B program until the end of the year. The H-1B program was created under President George H.W. There would also be increased workplace inspections and additional oversight of the H-1B program, Cuccinelli said. The U.S. can issue up to 85,000 H-1B visas per year in technology, life sciences, health care and other sectors.

Trump said the June 22 order would protect jobs amid high U.S. unemployment because of the pandemic. The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire high-skilled foreign workers, mainly for tech jobs. He arrived in Dallas with an H-1B visa in 2010 and now owns a house and land there. Vudayagiris wife, Arpana Takkalapally, holds an H-4 visa, given to immediate family of H-1B visa holders. Takkalapally watched as Indian friends and neighbors flocked to Houston last year for a rally with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump.