Indian IT firms to be hit by US H-1B visa fee hike
by Harleen Kaur - March 28, 2012
United States, 28th March: Several Indian IT companies will experience a significant impact from the recent decision of the US government to increase the fee for the US H-1B visas from the next fiscal year.
US H-1B visa to increase October this year--Giving details about the US H-1B visa fee, the US immigration department-USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) stated that the base fee for any petitioner employing 50 or more workers in the US and where half of its workforce in the US is on US L1 visas or US H-1B visas is between $325 and $2,000.
US H-1B visa applications will get accepted from April 2, 2013 for the fiscal year starting 1st October this year, the US immigration agency affirmed.
An important point worth noticeable here is that the date of acceptance of application will be deemed to the date on which the USCIS gets possession of the concerned petition rather than the date on which the application for the US H-1B visa was forwarded.
Significant effect of US H-1B visa fee hike on Indian IT firms –The announced hike in US visa fee will hit the Indian software firms badly.
Many Indian IT companies have employed a major percentage of their employees in the US and get nearly 60 percent of their total revenue from the US. For employers having one to 25 full-time employees, the fees this year is going to be $750.
For employers having 26 or more full-time equivalent workforce, fee will be $1,500, the USCIS informed. In addition, employers who seek premium processing service for processing of US visa application within a period of 15 days will have deposit an additional fee of $1,225, the USCIS clarified.
Annual cap on US H-1B visa applications—As in the previous years, the annual cap on US HG-1B visa applications will be 65,000 for the FY 2012-13. And the first 20,000 petitions for the US H-1B visas submitted on behalf of foreigners possessing US masters or higher degree will enjoy exemption from the annual cap for US H-1B visas.
The USCIS further informed that any petitions for new US H-1B employment are exempted from the annual cap in case the beneficiaries agree to work at any of the institutes including non-profit entities, research organizations or federal research organizations.
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