US May Soon Massively Hike H-1B, L-1 Visa Fees To Fund Immigration Agency
¡°Economists would note that fee increase on these visa categories would work against the desire of US policymakers for more workers to enter the United States legally,¡± Forbes said in a news report.
The United States may increase fees for certain visa categories to manage immigration operations better and deal with the global backlog in visa processing. If approved, the move will likely result in a substantial rise in filing fees for H-1B visas, impacting both American and Indian technology companies.
Gulf News
H-1B visa & its significance
The sought-after H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers is very popular among Indian tech professionals. The visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
How much will the hike be?
Under the Biden administration-proposed rule, published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday, the application for the H-1B visa increases from USD 460 to USD 780 and L-1 from USD 460 to USD 1,385. The application fee for O-1 visas has been proposed to increase from USD 460 to USD 1,055.
Freepik
But, why?
In its federal notification, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that USCIS is primarily funded by fees charged to applicants and petitioners for immigration and naturalisation benefit requests. These fee collections fund the cost of fairly and efficiently adjudicating immigration benefit requests, including those provided without charge to refugees, asylum, and certain other applicants or petitioners, it argued.
.@DHSgov published a proposed rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization fees. The changes are needed to better maintain operations & respond to backlogs & processing delays. Public comments are due by March 6, 2023.
¡ª USCIS (@USCIS) January 3, 2023
For more info, see: https://t.co/hEO9GX6sFY
The USCIS said the new fees would allow the immigration agency to recover its operating costs more fully, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, and prevent the accumulation of future case backlogs. The agency receives approximately 96 per cent of its funding from filing fees, not from congressional appropriations, it said.
¡°Economists would note that fee increase on these visa categories would work against the desire of US policymakers for more workers to enter the United States legally,¡± Forbes said in a news report.
AFP
While there is no increase in the premium processing, the number of days is now 15 business days from the existing 15 days. However, in this proposal, DHS would eliminate the additional biometric services fee in most cases by including the costs in the underlying immigration benefit request fee.
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