Data on H-1B Status for Faculty and Professionals

In light of the recently announced changes to H-1B visa fees, CUPA-HR has compiled data on segments of the higher ed workforce who hold these visas.[1] For background, watch our on‑demand Washington Update webinar, which focuses on the context and implications of President Trump’s proclamation restricting the H-1B visa program.

CUPA-HR data show that the workforce area with the highest number of H-1B visa holders is faculty (Figure 1). Nearly 3 out every 100 faculty members currently have H-1B status. In addition, 1.6% of professional employees are working with H-1B visas. Only 0.5% of administrators and non-exempt staff hold H-1B visas.

H-1B Visa Holders in the Higher Ed Workforce

Figure 1. Higher Ed Employees With H1-B Status[2]

Data on Faculty Who Hold H-1B Visas

The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate there are approximately 1.4 million faculty working in higher ed institutions in the U.S. Extrapolating from our data, we estimate that there are currently about 40,600 higher ed faculty working with H-1B visas in the U.S.

Of the 7,721 faculty reported in CUPA-HR’s surveys as working with an H-1B visa, more than 70% are tenure-track/tenured (TT) faculty (Figure 2). This is noteworthy because TT faculty typically have contracts that extend well beyond one year.

Figure 2. Percentage of H-1B Visa Holders by Faculty Type

Although the largest number of H-1B faculty are in tenure-track positions, the faculty type with the largest proportion of H-1B visa holders is non-tenure research faculty (Figure 3). Nearly 1 in 10 non-tenure research faculty members has an H-1B visa.

Figure 3. Percentage of Each Faculty Type Made Up of H-1B Visa Holders

The discipline with the most H-1B faculty is business, followed by engineering (Figure 4). More than 1 in 10 faculty in these disciplines has an H-1B visa. Other disciplines with high percentages of H-1B faculty can be characterized as STEM-related.

Figure 4. Disciplines With the Highest Percentage of H-1B Faculty

The preponderance of H-1B faculty are in medium, large, or very large institutions (Table 1).

Table 1. Distribution of H-1B Faculty by Institution Size

In addition, 4 out of 5 (83%) of H-1B faculty are at doctoral institutions, more than half (57%) are at R1 institutions, and three-fourths (77%) are at public institutions.

Data on Professionals Who Hold H-1B Visas

Of the 1.6% of professionals who have H-1B visas (Figure 1), 4 out of 10 (39.4%) are research scholars (which includes postdocs), research associates, or senior research scholars (Figure 5). Out of all research scholar positions reported to CUPA-HR in 2024-25 (n = 6,470), 1,098 (17%) have H-1B visas. The most recent data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) show that there are about 66,000 postdocs in the U.S. Therefore, it’s estimated that approximately 11,000 postdocs in the U.S. are H-1B visa holders.

Figure 5. Professional Positions With More Than 100 H-1B Visa Holders

Data drawn from CUPA-HR’s annual workforce surveys.

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