The Joe Biden administration has proposed to hike the employment-based visas such as H-1B and also L visas. The fee for such visas are generally borne by the employer.
A hike in these employment visas which are borne by the US employer and will thus increase the cost of hiring of employees. Those seeking investment-linked green cards will now have to pay $11,160 for initial application. This is a rise of 204 per cent.
As it is in the middle stage, there is going to be a 60-day period for inviting public comments. It will take few months to be implemented.
According to a report by TOI, early 96% of the funding is derived by USCIS from such filing fees.
The primary fee for an H-1B visa would jump to $1,595 from $470. The visa, which allows immigrants with college degrees to live and work in the U.S. for as long as six years before becoming permanent residents.
The fee for an L-1 visa, which allows companies to transfer executives from offices abroad to the U.S., would rise to $1,985 from $460.
The agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, released its fee-increase proposals for a 60-day comment period.
The cost of applying for citizenship, for example, will rise to $760 from $725, according to report.
According to report the H-1B cap applications are then required to be filed only for those beneficiaries selected in the lottery process. The E-registration fee at a mere $ 10 led to some malpractices, it is now proposed to be hiked by 2050% to $215. At the second stage, the filing fee for H-1B applications, is proposed to increase to $780 from $460 – a 70% increase.
