Visa fee hike |
The US-India Business Council and Indian IT industry body Nasscom hosted a meeting with members of the U.S. Congress to discuss the opportunities and challenges, including those around visas, for Indian technology firms.This meeting was important because it gave Indian tech companies an opportunity to showcase the contributions they have made to the U.S. economy. The Indian IT sector, which is a $148 billion industry, is the crown jewel of the Indian economy and, as such, is extremely important to the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. Congressman Bera said the visit provided great insight into the opportunities the U.S. and India have to strengthen and grow their technology sectors. The recent hike in visa fee was also discussed.The U.S., under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, has imposed a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on L1 visas. Almost all Indian IT companies would pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per H-1B visa from April 1, when the next annual H-1B visa filing session starts, thus making it quite economically unsustainable for them. This is expected to have an impact of about $400 million annually on India`s technology sector.
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