Washington: The US on Monday proposed an additional fee of USD 103,265 for all H-1B visa cap-subject applications, including those filed by applicants eligible for the advanced degree exemption.
The US Congress currently limits the H-1B visa programme to 65,000 visas a year under the regular cap.
An additional 20,000 visas are available for foreign workers who have obtained a master’s degree or higher from a US institution. This is commonly known as the “master’s cap”.
It said the fee would apply only to H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, but not to cap-exempt filings.
The proposed fee is specifically to recover the interagency costs described in this rule, and having a standalone fee is intended to facilitate tracking, allocation, and reporting of the associated revenue, the DHS said.
For these reasons, DHS proposes to implement the USD 103,265 amount as a separate, additional H-1B fee rather than combining it with the existing H-1B petition fee, the notice said.
“Same number. New wrapper. Same playbook. Throw enough things at the wall to restrict legal immigration and eventually something might stick (this won’t),” said Emily Neumann, a US-based immigration attorney.
The US Congress set the current annual regular cap for the H-1B category at 65,000, commonly known as the “regular cap”. It also set aside 20,000 additional H1-B visas for workers who hold a master’s degree or higher from a US college, commonly called the Master’s cap.
