Biden administration proposes higher US visa fees, steep hikes for H-1B and EB-5 applications

Biden administration proposes higher US visa fees, steep hikes for H-1B and EB-5 applications

The Joe Biden administration has proposed significantly  higher fees for many non-immigrant employment-based visas such as H-1B and also L visas. (for those on intra-company transfers).

These fees are borne by the US employer and will increase the immigration employees. Those seeking investment-linked green cards, will now have to cough up $11,160 for the initial application. The fee-proposals released by the US Citizenship, late night on Tuesday, are contained in an exhaustive document running into 469 pages.

However, the fee hike will not be introduced immediately.As per the administrative procedural requirement there is a  60-day period for inviting public comments,the entire process running up to the actual implementation of the revised fees could take a few months.

Nearly 96% of the funding is derived by USCIS from such filing. Costs for US employers who sponsor immigration employees wil increase, if the fee proposal goes through.