H-1B, L1 visa fee hike impacting US firms too: Congressman

The increase in H-1B and L1 visa fee by US Congress to fund enhanced border security measures, which was basically intended to have financial implications on Indian companies, is impacting American firms too, a key Democratic Congressman has said, highlighting the need to fix this.

"Mr Speaker, I rise to bring to your attention an unintended consequence brought on when we enacted last year's emergency supplemental appropriations bill to fund additional border resources, HR6080, the Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act," Congressman Steven R Rothman said on the floor of the House of Representatives.

This bill, the New Jersey Congressman said, was fully paid for by imposing additional fees for new H-1B and L-1 visas on a select group of companies.

Specifically, the companies impacted are those with more than 50 employees; and with a US workforce in which more than 50% are on a professional temporary visa -- basically the H-1B and L-1 visas.

"While, I applaud the intent of this provision to incentivise job creation at home, I would like to express my concern about the implementation of the additional visa fees. These fees were meant to be targeted at companies who utilise H-1B and L-1 visas at very high levels for the purpose of building their employees' proficiencies in IT, so that they can take this knowledge and the work back to their home countries," he noted.

"It turns out, however, that some US companies are being impacted by these fee increases because many of their professionals are stuck in green card backlogs and in the meantime remain in temporary visa status," Rothman said.

The Congressman noted that in his remarks at the time of Senate passage of HR 6080, Senator Charles Schumer commented that, when the H-1B visa programme is used as a stepping-stone for skilled immigrants to obtain permanent resident status, it is "a good programme for everyone involved. It is good for the company. It is good for the worker.

"And it is good for the American people who benefit from the products and jobs created by the innovation of the H-1B visa holder."

"I agree with Senator Schumer's remarks, and encourage my colleagues to work with me on a technical fix that would ensure that the implementation of this bill is consistent with these policy goals," he said.