United States (US) based companies, as well as tech workers will have 30 days to comment on the proposed $103,265 fee for companies to sponsor foreign skilled workers under the H-1B visa program after it is published on the Federal Register.
The move follows the proposed $103,265 fee that will be implemented following a federal judge’s decision in June to strike down the Trump administration’s previously proposed $100,000 for H-1B visa applications.
Leo Sorokin, US District Judge had ruled that it was unlawful to implement a tax on visa applications, as Congress is the only legislative body with the authority to set immigration policy and taxes.
Read also: US court nullifies Trump visa ban on Nigeria, 74 other countries
If implemented, sponsoring employers would have to pay the fee upfront when submitting a visa application for its incoming employees on top of all existing legal and administrative fees.
The affected parties are commercial businesses applying for standard H-1B visas, including the 65,000 standard cap and the 20,000 quota set aside for advanced degree holders from US universities.
Those exempt from this are higher education institutions, non-profit research organisations, and government research bodies.
The government estimates this fee will bring in about $8.8 billion every year. Officials have stated that the funds will cover operational costs across federal immigration agencies, such as background checks, court operations, and technology updates, so that taxpayers do not bear the expense.
“The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers,” said Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
However, according to David Bier of the Cato Institute, refutes this in a statement sent to The Hill, saying,
“The administration claims the new fee will be a ‘cost recovery mechanism,’ even though the first fee led to a nearly 90 percent reduction in filings and a $28 million loss in revenue. The government itself told the court that the $100,000 fee was ‘arguably prohibitive’ and ‘does not raise revenue”.
“Even if it did raise revenue, that would not make it legal because immigration fees can only be imposed to recover the costs of adjudication and naturalization services. And because this is a filing fee, employers would have to pay it with no guarantee that USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) will approve the petition. Almost no one will risk more than $100,000 with no guarantee of approval,” Bier added.
Ngozi Ekugo is a Senior Correspondent at BusinessDay. She holds a Masters in management from the University of Lagos, an undergraduate from University of Lagos, and is in an alumni of Queen's College. Shes currently an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). She has a brief experience at Goldman sachs, London in its Human Capital Management division. She is interested in human capital development and is leveraging her varied experience across sectors to report labour and global mobility trends for stakeholders to make informed decisions.
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