Trump proposes to raise fees for H-1B visa |
The Trump administration proposes to double a component of the filing fee for H-1Bs, a visa programme popular with Indians hoping to work and live in the United States, that could push up costs by $750 or $1,500 for each application, depending on the size of the employer company.The proposed hike is for a fee US charges for each H-1B application to fund training programme for Americans for jobs currently been performed by foreign workers, specially in STEM sectors. It is currently $750 each for petitions filed by an employer with 25 or less full-time employees, and $1,500 for employers with 26 or more. The plan is to double it to $1,500 and $3,000 respectively, through a legislation, which, typically, could take time. Called the ACWAI fee — named after American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act, a 1998 law aimed at reducing the need for foreign workers — is 13% of the total H-1B fee. The rest are $460 basic fee, $500 anti-fraud fee, $4,000 fee for employers that have more than 50 workers with half or more of them on H-1B or L-1 (for intra-company transfers). For premium 15-day processing, which is optional, the fee is $ 1,410. Employers pay these charges. There is no proposal to change these other charges.
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