The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a new 103,265 USD fee on top of existing costs for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those for advanced degree holders.
According to the press release issued by DHS, the proposed fee would be paid at the time of filing and imposed on top of all other applicable fees or payments. DHS estimates the fee would generate approximately 8.8 billion USD annually, based on a projected 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions.
DHS said the revenue would help recover federal government costs related to adjudication of immigration benefits, fraud detection and national security vetting, systems modernisation, records and fee collection operations, immigration court operations, consular visa processing, labour standards enforcement, and interagency coordination.
As per the release, the additional fee would not apply to H-1B petitions that are not subject to the cap, including petitions filed by certain nonprofit research organisations, government research organisations and institutions of higher education.
