US Raises H-1B Visa Fee Again By Around Rs 12,500

Online, April 1, 2012 (Newswire.com) - BANGALORE: US visas have become the bane of Indian IT. Just last week, the frustration of rising visa rejections prompted a group of IT companies to write a strongly-worded letter to US president Barack Obama saying that immigration authorities were exceeding the law in rejecting their applications for L1 visas, which are used for intra-company transfers of employees from foreign offices to US offices.

On Wednesday, this problem was compounded with an increase in the fees for H-1B visas, which too are used extensively by Indian IT companies to service US clients on-site. H-1B visas will be open for application on April 2, for use in the year beginning October.

The precise increase in fees is not clear, but back of the envelope calculations by experts indicated the increase to be about $250 (approximately Rs 12,500) per application - from $5,300 to $5,550 (including the premium processing fee that ensures the visa is processed within 15 days). So, if a company applies for 1,000 visas, it's an increase in cost of Rs 1.25 crore.

Indian companies are the biggest users of this visa, with the bigger companies applying for many thousands. Indian companies used to account for about 30,000 of the 65,000 H-1B visas available, but this number has come down a little in recent years as the US has tightened its visa regime. The big Indian IT firms account for two-thirds of the total Indian applications. In 2010, the US had passed a Bill that sought to increase funding for US border security by increasing fees for each new H-1B and L-1 visa application. This was applicable to applicants that employ 50 or more employees in the US, if more than 50% of those applicant's employees are under H-1B or L-1 status.

This appeared targeted directly at Indian IT companies, because the categorization literally defines the status of most of these companies in US, and few else. Experts say that apart from the big Indian IT companies, there are about 500 other Indian-owned IT companies in the US that would fall under this category. That Bill increased the H-1B visa cost for Indian companies the following year by about $2,000. The latest increase has raised the burden further.