US hopes to work with India on H1B, L1 visa fee rise issue

The US hopes to work with India to address its concerns over the recent increase in H-1B and L1 visa fee in order to find an “acceptable alternative solution” to the critical issue that threatens to hurt the bilateral economic ties, a top Obama administration official has said.

“It is an issue the administration is hoping to work with (India) to see if we can come up with an acceptable alternative solution,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told the popular ‘Mercury News’ of the Silicon Valley. “We’d like to see if we can find a way so that it is not as offensive to some of our important partners like India as it is perceived to be,” Kirk said.

His remarks came in response to a question on the recent fee hike for H-1B and L-1 visas for foreign companies, particularly outsourcing giants from India, which has created an uproar in India.

The fee for H-1B visas — which soared from $320 to $2,320 — will help pay for a $650 million effort to increase security along the US-Mexico border. India’s IT industry says the move will cost them $200 million a year.

“It (the visa fee hike) has not been well received in India,” Kirk said.

“We have heard from a lot of our colleagues (in India). It will hopefully be a subject of our (US-India) Trade Policy Forum (sponsored by Kirk’s office and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma) in a couple of weeks,” said the US Trade Representative.

Kirk also appeared to be dissatisfied with the steps taken by the US Congress with regard to H-1B visas, said to be the life line of the Silicon Valley.

He argued that while this was an economic issue, the Congress took this as an immigration matter.

“The reality is the Congress is zealous about its right to determine immigration policy. We see this as an economic issue but the Congress feels it should be seen as a part of our overall immigration policy,” he said.