US senate passed fill to double H1b Visa fees

US senate passed Border Security bill yesterday with amendments. One of the amendments includes the following fee increase for H-1B visa and L-1 visa. This amendment was sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. The amendment provides:

• L-1 Filing Fee and Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee Wiil be Increased by $2,250 for Petitioners Employing 50 or More Employees in the United States and More Than 50% of the employees are H-1B or L-1 Employees


• H-1B Filing Fee and Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee Will be Increased by $2,000 for Petitioners Employing 50 or More Employees in the United States and More Than 50% of the employees are H-1B or L-1 Employees.


• The total filing fees after this legislation will be much higher than these figures in that these employers will also have to pay $1,500 American Worker Training Fees for H-1B petition plus current fraud preventiuon fee of $500 and I-129 filing fee of $320.


• The Increased Fee will take effect on the date this bill is enacted into a law by the President's signature and remain in effect until September 30, 2014.

So the fee increase is not for every H1B or L-1 Visa. It is only for those employers Employing 50 or More Employees in the United States and More Than 50% of the employees are H-1B or L-1 Employees.

Apparently, the Indian IT companies are among the those being hit the hardest.