USCIS Filing Fees on the Rise Again!
On August 13, 2010, President Obama signed Public Law 111-230 into law which dramatically increases H1B and L1 filing fees for certain US companies. The new law went into effect immediately and though Form I-129 has not yet incorporated the new law into the form, all US petitioning companies must disclose whether they are subject or not.
The new law requires additional filing fees of $2,000 for H1B visa petitioner and $2,250 for L1A and L1B petitions where the US petitioning company employs 50 or more employees in the United States and more than 50 percent of its employees in the United States are in H-1B or L visa status. Petitioners with fewer than 50 employees or those who employ primarily non H1B or L visa workers will not be affected.
However, all applicants will be affected by USCIS’s plan to raise all other filing fees. On June 11, 2010 USCIS announced their plan to raise fees across the board an average of 10%. This prospective fee increase is still in the public comment stage but is expected to go into effect shortly. The agency stated that the fees needed to be increased to offset lost revenue from fewer applications being filed. This is in sharp contrast to their previous reasoning when they raised fees in 2007 to increase staffing to adjudicate applications faster.
The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy. – Unknown
In: Filing Fees, USCIS · Tagged with: Filing Fees, USCIS