The US has announced a steep increase in fees for various categories for non-immigrant visas such as the H-1B, L-1, EB-5 the most popular among Indians. The fee hike, fist after 2016 will come into force from April 1, 2024.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows the US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire thousands of employees each year from countries like Indian and China.
The EB-5 programme launched by the US government in 1990 enables high net worth foreign investors to obtain a US visa for themselves and their families by investing a minimum of 5,00,000 in a US business that helps create jobs for American workers.
To come into force from April 1, 2024, the new H-1B application visa fee which is from I-129 has been increased from 460 USD to 780 USD. The H-1B registration will increase from 10 USD to 215 USD, but from a next year.
The fee for L-1 Visas has been increased from 460 USD to 1385 USD and that of EB visas which are called investors visa has jumped from 3675 USD to 11160 USD, according to a federal notification issued on January 31, 2024. The L-1 Visa is a non-immigrant visa category in the US that is designed for intracompany transferees. It allows multinational companies to transfer certain employees from their foreign offices to work in the US temporarily.
The fee adjustments as well as the changes to the forms and free structures used by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, will result in net costs, benefits and transfer payments the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in its federal notification
For the ten-year-old period of analysis of the rule (FY 2024 through FY 2033), the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated the annualized net costs to the public will be 157,005,92 discounted at three and seven percent.
Estimated total net costs over ten years will be 1,339,292,617 USD discounted at three per cent and 1,102,744,106 USD discounted at seven per cent. The DHS argue that changes in the final rule will also provide several benefits to it and applicants and petitioners seeking immigration benefits.
For the government, the primary benefit includes reduced administrative burdens and fee processing errors, increased efficiency in the adjudicative process and the better assess the cost of providing services, which allow for better aligned fees in future regulations.
The primary benefits to the applications and petitioners include reduced fee processing errors increased efficiency in the adjudicative process, the simplification, limited fee increases and additional fee exemptions to reduce fee burdens. In many categories, the federal notification has made a minor reduction in visa applications as well.
