Support DCPS International Educators Pathway to Permanent Residency
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, DC Council
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Over 300 International Educators have moved from across the world on H1B Visas to fill critical vacancies in DC Public Schools. They have become treasured members of our community and have planted deep roots. All built on a heavily implied promise by DC Public Schools that there was a pathway to permanent residency.
In January of 2025 DCPS abruptly canceled their established Green Card policy without notifying anyone. This has put a deadline of 6 years maximum on each person who has joined DCPS on an H1B, many of whom only have 1-2 years left. This will force them to leave the United States along with their families.
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, DC Council
From:
[Your Name]
DC Public Schools owes the International Educators that it has hired on H1B Visas a pathway to permanent residency. This was the explicit policy that they were hired under between 2018 and 2024, and it is the natural extension of the H1B Visa.
The decision to suddenly end the previously advertised Green Card policy with no warning is not just a personal crisis for 300 educators; it is a direct threat to the quality of education in our city. International teachers bring invaluable diversity, global perspectives, and innovation to our classrooms. They have filled key vacancies not only with Foreign Language, English Language Learners and Bilingual and Dual Language schools, they also have filled hard to fill positions across the spectrum. The program has been so successful that DCPS has expanded the use of H1Bs year over year.
The potential removal of 300 experienced educators will create a catastrophic shortage in a school system that can ill afford it. The loss of their expertise and dedication will be felt immediately in classrooms across the district, undermining student progress and stability.
The DC Council has appropriated money specifically to support DCPS ability to process permanent residency applications through the hiring of an additional attorney and to pay the specific filing fees associated with the initial application. Unfortunately, DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee has said that DCPS will not spend the appropriated money.
We call on DCPS to hire the additional attorney that the DC Council has appropriated money for and begin the immediate resumption of the DCPS Green Card policy so that our valued International Educators have access to the pathway to permanent residency that was promised.