The Donald Trump-led US administration has proposed a regulation to impose a fee of more than USD 100,000 on new H-1B visa applications for highly skilled foreign workers.
The proposal, released by the Department of Homeland Security, would raise the fee to USD 103,265, according to a notice posted by the Federal Register on Monday.
The fee will be applicable for all H-1B visa cap-subject applications, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The DHS's new proposal comes a month after a federal appeals court rejected a plea to stay a district judge's order overturning the Trump administration's plan to impose a USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.
In September last year, Trump signed a sweeping proclamation to impose a USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas and simultaneously rolled out a USD 1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to US citizenship for wealthy individuals.
The USD 100,000 H-1B fee was subsequently struck down by a federal court, while the “gold card” programme is a separate initiative.
The latest move is expected to hit Indian professionals hardest, as they make up a large proportion of H-1B visa holders.
H-1B visas are meant for specialty occupations that generally require at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.
The programme has long been used extensively by technology companies and IT services firms, while critics have argued that some employers use it to access lower-cost foreign labour.
Historically, cap-subject H-1B visas have been allocated through a lottery when applications exceeded the annual cap, although the selection system has since undergone changes.
Amazon has consistently been among the programme's largest employers, alongside companies such as Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft and Google. California remains one of the leading states for H-1B approvals, reflecting the concentration of technology companies in the state.
