The Biden administration on Thursday proposed a steep increase in nonimmigrant employment-based visa fees. This includes H-1B and L visas (transfers from one company to another). These visa fees are borne by US employing companies. In such a situation, there is a possibility of a big increase in the cost of hiring migrant workers after the implementation of this proposal.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a proposal to increase this fee on Tuesday night. This proposal is contained in a detailed document of 469 pages.
However, this fee increase will not be implemented immediately. According to administrative procedures, 60 days have been given for public comment on the proposal. In such a case, it may take a few months for the revised fee to be implemented.
Immigrant investor green cards now cost $11,160 for the initial application. This is 204 percent higher than the existing fee.
Under the new proposal, the H-1B visa application fee for highly skilled workers would increase by 70% to $780. H-1B visa applicants, many of whom are technical workers, are also required to pay a pre-registration fee of $215. It is proposed to increase the current fee from $10.
Fees for sponsoring temporary agricultural and non-agricultural workers will rise above $1,000. This growth will increase by 137% towards temporary agriculture and 135% towards non-agriculture from the current level.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents who want to sponsor certain family members for permanent residency (also known as green cards) would have to pay a higher fee under the proposed rule. The filing fee for those returns will increase by 33% to $710. Fees for US citizens seeking to bring their fiancés to the US will also increase to $720, a 35% increase.
Meanwhile, immigrants already living in the U.S. will have to pay $1,540, a 35% increase on the existing fee to get a green card. Applicants must pay a filing fee of $120 to obtain US citizenship. This will increase by 19%. Asylum applications will remain free.
In a statement on Tuesday, USCIS cited the need to increase some application fees to cover the agency’s costs, speed up application reviews, hire more adjudicators, maintain the asylum program and reduce the agency’s backlog of millions of pending cases.
While USCIS has historically updated fees every two years, the current fee structure was enacted in 2016 at the end of the Obama administration’s term.
In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic reduction in receipts of new applications, resulting in a temporary drop in revenue by 40 percent, the USCIS said. “The combination of depleted cash reserves, a temporary hiring freeze, and workforce attrition has reduced the agency’s capacity to timely adjudicate cases, particularly as incoming caseloads rebound to pre-pandemic levels,” it said in a statement.
“In addition to improving customer service operations and managing the incoming workload, USCIS must continue to fulfill our growing humanitarian mission, upholding fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve,” said Ur M. Jaddou, USCIS Director. “This proposed rule allows USCIS to more fully recover operating costs for the first time in six years and will support the Administration’s effort to rebuild the legal immigration system,” he added.
About 96 percent of USCIS funds are derived from such filing fees. The coronavirus epidemic has also affected the income of the US immigration service. The understaffed US immigration agency is under increasing pressure to approve old applications. In its press release, the agency said the proposed fees are the result of a comprehensive fee review at USCIS.
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