US increases Visa fees: H1B and L1 visa raised 21% and 75% respectively

The United States government has recently increased the H1B visa fees by 21 per cent and the L1 visa fees by nearly 75 per cent. This new US visa fees will be applicable from the month of October onwards. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services comes under the Department of Homeland Security and they have officially announced this hike in the US visa fee.

US Visa Fees Hike

Indians will now have to pay 21 per cent extra for H1B visa and 75 per cent extra for L1 visa. Currently, the US visa fees for the H1B visa is $460 but with the hike, it will cost $555 from October 2020. The L1 visa fee is also $460 but will be hiked up to $850. This move was made by the United States government after the USCIS started facing a funding problem due to the lack of visa application. The USCIS is funded by the US visa fees as it does not have any other source of funding.

This will have a major impact on Indians who wish to work in the US as they will have to shell out far too much for the US visa. US visa fee hike will burn a hole in the pockets of all the Indians who want an H1B or L1 visa and discourage them from applying as well. It will also take a toll on the IT firms that hire people on H1B visa. Any IT company that has more than 50 employees out of which 50 per cent are on H1B visa or L1 visa, will now have to pay an additional fee of $4000 for every visa extension. This move will surely have a negative impact on IT firms.

More on US Visa

The United States government banned all work Visa and green card applications after the coronavirus outbreak. This move was made in order to protect the jobs of American citizens amid the economic crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. Soon after this move, USCIS started receiving very few visa applications which led to a major loss in the funding of the department. The hike in the visa fees will help the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to recover their operational costs.