Indian IT companies to pay $4,000 more for every H-1B visa

PTI

Washington, 27 May 2016: Flagship Indian IT companies would have to pay at least an additional $4,000 for every H-1B visa application under the new regulations that came into effect last December, according to details published today by a federal US agency.

 

And those applying for L-1 visa petitions would have to pay $4,500 more than other US companies under the new law, which would be in effect till September 30, 2025.

 

The H-1B visa is designed to allow US employers to recruit and employ foreign professionals in speciality occupations within the US while L-1 visas are available to employees of an international company with offices in both the US and abroad.

 

Indian IT firms -- which have to incur an additional burden of about $400 million annually -- have called it "discriminatory", with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself raising this at the highest level.

 

US federal Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS ) posted the details of the increased fee on its website today.

 

For H-1B petitioners, one "must pay the additional $4,000 fee" if the company employs 50 or more employees in the US and more than half of those are in H-1B, L-1A, or L-1B non-immigrant status.

 

The figure increases to $4,500 for those applying for L-1 visas.

 

The USCIS said the additional fees needs to be a paid in a separate cheque payable to the Department of Homeland Security.

 

The federal agency also laid the parameters for counting the number of employees of the company.