Each year, Utah recruits dozens of teachers from countries like Portugal, Germany and Brazil to help students learn new languages through immersion. But after the U.S. Department of State temporarily paused exchange visitor visa appointments late last month, state officials said they worry they won’t have enough teachers in classrooms when school starts this fall.
The Trump administration’s temporary pause on exchange visitor visas has delayed the arrival of several international teachers hired for Utah’s Dual Language Immersion programs.
Each year, Utah recruits dozens of teachers from countries like Portugal, Germany and Brazil to help students learn new languages through immersion. But after the U.S. Department of State temporarily paused exchange visitor visa appointments late last month, state officials said they worry they won’t have enough teachers in classrooms when school starts this fall.
“This delay directly threatens Utah’s nationally recognized Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program by preventing Exchange Visitor Program educators from getting their visa appointments with the U.S. Embassy,” Utah State Board of Education officials wrote in an email to the Utah Congressional delegation on June 4, urging them to call on the State Department to resume visa interviews for K-12 teachers.
The pause comes as the Trump Administration decides whether to require all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting, Politico reported.
In the meantime, the administration directed all U.S. embassies and consular sections to halt scheduling interviews for student and exchange visitor visas — known as J visas — which are issued to individuals approved to participate in exchange programs in the United States.
“Without timely visa appointments, newly hired teachers cannot move forward with travel, training, or start dates for the coming school year,” USBE officials wrote in the June 4 email. “Delays now could leave students and schools without the qualified teachers they are counting on.”
Robert Austin, who oversees the Exchange Visitor Program for the USBE, said of the roughly 40 international teachers hired for the 2025-26 school year, about five remain without embassy appointments, leaving their fall teaching positions uncertain.
If they are unable to obtain their visas in time, Austin said, some districts may be left scrambling to fill the positions. It’s currently unclear which districts will be affected.
“These are teachers who are willing to take the risk of coming here, uprooting everything they know, and embarking on this new adventure in Utah,” Austin said. “And suddenly we’ve put a pause on that so they can’t move forward with buying an airline ticket.”
He said that many of these teachers have children and spouses, who have already given leave notice to their employers in anticipation of coming to Utah.
“These sorts of decisions have incredibly damaging implications for good people,” Austin said.
One teacher from Spain raised concerns in a message to USBE officials, which was shared with Utah’s congressional delegation in USBE’s June 4 email.
The teacher wrote: “Given the exceptional preparation this project entails for my family and me, I hope you will understand my concern. We have been working toward this exchange for over a year with deep personal and professional commitment. It is a shared family project: we would need to temporarily close our home in Spain, make the necessary arrangements to enroll our two daughters (ages 12 and 16) in school in Utah, and my husband — a Registered Nurse — has formally requested a voluntary leave of absence from his job to be able to accompany and support us during our stay.”
There are 344 dual language immersion classes taught across dozens of Utah schools, according to USBE officials. About half of the state’s 41 school districts offer a dual language immersion program.
Like other students, those enrolled in the program follow a typical school schedule — but half of their day is taught in a different language, like Chinese or French.
“The great thing is there are two teachers who have two classrooms of students,” Austin said. “They switch those students every day, and that allows for … an incredibly effective way to teach language to students as they’re learning the content area, which is why it’s immersion, because you’re immersed in both the language and the learning of mathematics or science or other subjects.”
International teachers typically stay in Utah for about three years, Austin said, which is the duration of the visa.
And those who are here currently have been advised to stay in the United States until after the pause is lifted, particularly those who need to renew their visas, Austin said.
“If you are planning on going to your home country and can delay travel until these appointments have resumed, that would be advisable,” USBE officials wrote in an email to international exchange teachers June 2. “If you have already made plans to leave, and can reschedule to go home at a later date, that would be best.”