When winter temperatures dawn on rural Cibola County and neighbors gather around steaming plates of tamales and pozole, Kathrene Rivera will be bringing something else.

Rivera brings chicken adobo, sinigang soup and pancit noodles — a way to bring the “extravagance” of a Filipino Christmas to Grants, and to practice “ bayanihan ,” a concept she defined as “helping each other to build your community.”

Rivera, 37, moved from Manila, Philippines, to Cibola County in early 2022 when she was issued a H-1B visa to bring her teaching talents and education experiences from around the globe to work as a first-grade teacher at Mesa View Elementary, helping fill New Mexico’s teacher shortages.

But a new massive fee hike announced last month to the H-1B visa program is slated to make it less fina

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