Washington: In a move that is expected to hit Indian IT companies majorly, the US government has decided to hike H-1B visa fee from next fiscal even as the maximum number of applications for fiscal year 2013 has been retained at 65,000.
In a statement, USCIS listed out the details of the fees to be filed by the applicants for H-1B visas, which starts from a base fee of $ 325 to $ 2,000 by the petitioner who employs 50 or more employees in the US - where more than 50 per cent of its workers in the US are in H-1B or L-1 non- immigrant status.
This year, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is charging $ 750 for employers with 1 to 25 full-time equivalent employees, and $ 1,500 for employers with 26 or more full-time equivalent employees. There is another $ 500 listed as fraud prevention and detection fee. And employers seeking premium processing service, in which application is processed within 15 days, need to submit an additional $ 1,225, it said.
India's software and services companies earn around 60 per cent of their revenues from the US and employ a large number of professionals here.
USCIS also said that applications for the most sought after H-1B work visa used extensively by Indian IT professionals for the fiscal beginning October 1, would be accepted beginning April 2.
The congressionally mandated numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2013 is 65,000, as has been in the previous years. Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap.
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