H1b fee increase

[kothavani]

US plans to increase H1B visa application fee

CNBC-TV18   • May 07, 2019 11:07 AM IST 

By PTI

  

 

The Donald Trump administration is proposing a hike in the H-1B visa application fee to increase funding for the expansion of an apprentice programme, which trains American youths in technology-related activities, Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta told US lawmakers.

Testifying before a Congressional committee on an annual budget of the Department of Labour for the fiscal year 2020 beginning October 1, 2019, Acosta, however, did not give details of the proposed increase in H-1B filing fee and as to which categories of applicants it would be enforced on.

But given past experience, the Indian IT companies, which account for a large number of H-1B applications, are likely to face the additional financial burden because of this proposed increase in H-1B filing fees.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

Arguing that foreigners hurt American workers by competing for jobs and driving down wages, the Trump administration has tightened the noose around the H-1B visa programme. The Seattle Times on Monday reported that last year immigration officials denied nearly one out of every four requests for new visas for skilled foreign workers.

In FY 2020, the Department's budget includes $160 million to continue our expansion of apprenticeship programmes, along with a proposal to increase H-1B fee revenues to fund additional apprenticeship activities, Acosta said in his testimony on May 2 before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Labour, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.

Acosta told lawmakers that last year the Department of Labour had launched the first-ever sector-based apprenticeship grant funding opportunity to invest $150 million to expand apprenticeships in those in-demand industry sectors most often filled by individuals on H-1B visas, such as information technology, health care and advanced manufacturing.

This grant funding opportunity introduced an innovative approach: a 35 percent private-sector match requirement. This brings the total investment to $202.5 million, $57.7 million coming from the private sector, he said.

"As a result of this private sector match requirement, educators have a greater incentive to join with industry to ensure curricula address the needs of our ever-changing workplace, investing in the latest technologies and techniques, and providing more in-demand opportunities for Americans, Acosta said.

On July 18 last year, the Department of Labour had announced $150 million in H-1B funds to support sector-based approaches to expanding apprenticeships on a national scale in key industry sectors.

The focus is on industries reliant on H-1B visas. It aims at expanding apprenticeships and increase the level of apprenticeship activity among a range of new employers within these industries, particularly small- and medium-sized businesses.

Acosta also told lawmakers that the Labour Department has also made changes to the H-1B application forms to ensure greater transparency and better protect American workers from employers seeking to misuse the programme.

In fiscal 2018, the Department concluded 649 non-immigrant visa programme cases and found violations in 553 of those cases.

In a news story, Breitbart News said that every year, more than 100,000 foreign workers are brought to the US on the H-1B visa and are allowed to stay for up to six years. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the US at any given moment, it added.

[solman]

[kothavani]

Vidi yabba H1b fee penchi Malli apprentice training ki karchu pedthadu anta 

[Sarvapindi]

lk lu...approvals anna sakkaga iyyandra mee jaathi ni 10nga..

[Hydrockers]

Enta penchutunadu

[Captain_nd_Coke]

Border ki paisal kavala- increase h1 fee

eedebba eellaki ee program ki aina paisal kavali ante kanipinchedi h1 galle

[Hydrockers]

Just now, Captain_nd_Coke said:

Border ki paisal kavala- increase h1 fee

eedebba eellaki ee program ki aina paisal kavali ante kanipinchedi h1 galle

Baa as per rules visa fee company lu kada pay chesedi

H1 gallu tappu chestu trump Ni anatam enduku

[kothavani]

1 minute ago, Hydrockers said:

Baa as per rules visa fee company lu kada pay chesedi

H1 gallu tappu chestu trump Ni anatam enduku

Correcte e bro already full time companies ki kuda h1 dabbulu additional cost to company usually they will hire external law firms like Bal , fregoman etc and pay as package big amount when they hire they will consider that expense as well in the offer they gave slowely they might think e h1 galu enduku ani 

[kothavani]

7 minutes ago, Hydrockers said:

Enta penchutunadu

Emo mostly proposal anukunta ilantivi fast ga approve chestaro Emo 

[rokalibanda]

entha penchuko 2 pakka eyadam

[Hydrockers]

1 minute ago, rokalibanda said:

entha penchuko 2 pakka eyadam

Anthe ga anthe ga

[Kootami]

16 minutes ago, Sarvapindi said:

lk lu...approvals anna sakkaga iyyandra mee jaathi ni 10nga..

chaaala rojul aindi baa ilanti titlani vini 

[r2d2]

6 minutes ago, kothavani said:

Correcte e bro already full time companies ki kuda h1 dabbulu additional cost to company usually they will hire external law firms like Bal , fregoman etc and pay as package big amount when they hire they will consider that expense as well in the offer they gave slowely they might think e h1 galu enduku ani 

True.. and that Fragomen oka faalthu firm.. annee thappulu thadakle file chesthaadu.. ok saari evadido approval with full personal details.. naaku email pampinchaadu..

[kothavani]

2 minutes ago, Kootami said:

chaaala rojul aindi baa ilanti titlani vini 

Bro frustrated 🤣 ,Mari fees penchi 6 months approval ichindu anuko bro , dani needs data analysis run chesi manchi income government ki ani decide ayina aitaru emina ante unte undandi lekapothe dobbeyandi ovadu undamanaru antaru

[kothavani]

Employers Have Paid $5 Billion In H-1B Visa Fees Since 1999

Stuart AndersonContributor

Leadership Strategy

I write about globalization, business, technology and immigration.

 

Donald Trump signing the Buy American and Hire American executive order, which has resulted in new restrictions on H-1B visas, on April 18, 2017. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

 GETTY

Employers spend a lot of money to sponsor high-skilled foreign nationals on H-1B visas – and the costs continue to rise. These costs take on increased significance at a time of heightened government scrutiny over hiring high-skilled foreign nationals, particularly given that on April 1, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B applications for FY 2020.

 

“Employers have paid nearly $5 billion in mandated H-1B fees (currently $1,500 per a new or extended H-1B petition) that primarily fund scholarships for U.S. students and training for U.S. workers, a figure that rises to over $7 billion if one includes $1.6 billion in mandated anti-fraud fees and other government fees,” according to a new study from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).

Table 1: Employer H-1B Costs
Application Fee	$460
Attorney Fees	$1,500 to $4,000
Attorney Fees if a Request for Evidence	$2,000 to $4,500
Scholarship and Training Fee	$1,500 ($750 for employers with 25 or fewer employees)
Anti-Fraud Fee	$500
Premium Processing (generally necessary)	$1,410
50/50 Fee on Employers with Majority H-1B/L-1 Workforce	$4,000
Visa Application (cost based on reciprocity)	$190
TOTAL	$3,400 to $16,560 for initial H-1B petition; $6,300 to $28,620 combined cost of initial H-1B petition and extension*
Source: National Foundation for American Policy, Council on Global Immigration, SHRM.	*Some fees apply only to initial petitions or change of employers, not extensions.

 

Attorney costs and government fees range from $3,400 up to $16,560 for an initial H-1B petition and from $6,300 to $28,620 for the cost of both an initial H-1B petition and an extension. Note that employers also must pay an H-1B professional the higher of the prevailing wage or actual wage paid to “all other individuals with similar experience and qualifications for the specific employment in question.”

Since wait times for H-1B processing are typically 10 to 12 months, it is generally imperative for most employers to pay a $1,410 “premium processing” fee, which can guarantee a USCIS decision within 15 days. Companies can spend up to $4,500 in extra legal costs if a USCIS adjudicator issues a Request for Evidence, which government data show happened in 60% of completed cases in the 1st quarter of FY 2019.

 

Employers must also pay a $1,500 scholarship and training fee and a $500 “fraud prevention and detection” fee. The scholarships are for degrees in math, engineering and computer science.

In exchange for a temporary increase in the H-1B annual limit, a new scholarship and training fee of $500 was included in the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998. In 2000, as part of another bill that increased H-1B visas for a three-year period, Congress raised the fee to $1,000. In the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, Congress raised the fee to $1,500 and added a $500 anti-fraud fee, which funds audits and investigations, ironically against the employers that are paying the fee. That was part of a legislative package that created a permanent 20,000-exemption from the H-1B annual limit for individuals with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. university.

Since 2004, the $1,500 scholarship and training fee, the $500 anti-fraud fee, the 65,000-annual limit and the 20,000 exemption from the annual limit have not changed.

Congress also established a fee of $4,000 on an initial H-1B petition (and $4,500 on L-1 visas) for “H-1B petitioners that employ 50 or more employees in the United States if more than 50 percent of these employees are in H-1B, L-1A or L-1B nonimmigrant status.” The fee likely violates America’s commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), according to an analysis by a trade attorney.

The Trump administration’s FY 2020 budget proposes doubling the $1,500 scholarship and training fee to $3,000 but without any corresponding increase in the annual limit of H-1B visas, as has happened in the past. The annual supply of new H-1B visas – 65,000 plus a 20,000-exemption for individuals with U.S. graduate degrees – has been exhausted every fiscal year since 2004.

 

 

For context, we should remember that when companies recruit on U.S. university campuses, they find only about 20% of the full-time graduate students in computer science and electrical engineering are U.S. students. International students make up the majority of full-time graduate students in computer science and electrical engineering at about 90% of U.S. universities.

Of course, it’s not just a numbers issue. “Immigrants have started more than half (50 of 91, or 55%) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion or more and are key members of management or product development teams in more than 80% of these companies,” according to an October 2018 NFAP study. “The research shows the increasing importance of immigrants in cutting-edge companies.”

A new report by FWD.us and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation cited economists and concluded that reducing the ability of U.S. employers to hire foreign-born professionals would not result in more jobs for native-born U.S. workers.

Exploring the issue of wages, research by economist Magnus Lofstrom found no support for the contention that H-1B visa holders “are paid less than observationally similar U.S. born workers; in fact, they appear to have higher earnings in some key STEM occupations, including information technology.” Lofstrom also cited economic research by Jennifer Hunt that reached a similar conclusion, as well as a joint study by Sunil Mithas and Henry C. Lucas Jr. A study by Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, concluded, “We find that H-1B workers today are paid slightly above similar U.S. workers in the same city and job according to Glassdoor data – about 2.8% more on average.”

 

Critics argue H-1B visa holders are “cheap labor.” Mounting legal and government fees for employers now reach up to $16,560 per H-1B petition. It may be surprising to find out something that is supposed to be so cheap turns out to cost so much.