US: H1B And Other Visas To Burn Pockets

The United States government is planning to hike employment-based visas fees and this could severely impact the Indian techies who always aspire for a US visa. A proposal has been brought by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and according to this the primary fee for an H-1B visa would jump to $1,595 from $470.

H1B allows immigrants to live and work in the U.S. for as long as six years and most Indian techies fly to the US with this visa. Similarly for an L-1 visa, which allows companies to transfer executives from offices abroad to the U.S., the fee was proposed to rise to $1,985 from existing $460.

And for an EB-5 visa, which allows foreign investors to become U.S. permanent residents if they invest at least $900,000 in a U.S.-based project, the fee hike was proposed to increase to $11,160 from $3,675.

The USCIS uses these visa fees to fund the agency that processes applications for citizenship, green cards and visas along with evaluating applicants for asylum or refugee status. Usually the USCIS updates its fee structure for every two years but it was undone since 2016.

The US President Joe Biden led administration is said to be considering to improve this proposal.