A $2,000 H-1B fee on Indian companies could return in US

The fee could be used to fund a 9/11 healthcare act in the US with a group of Congressmen mounting fresh efforts to reimpose it

A special $2,000 fee could return on H-1B and L-1 visas for Indian information technology companies to fund a 9/11 health care act in the US, with a group of Congressmen quietly mounting fresh efforts to reimpose it.

Such a move has been made part of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act which funds health screenings and treatments for 9/11 first responders.

The bill, named after Detective James Zadroga who died of a respiratory illness in 2006, expired on October 1. Lawmakers are seeking to permanently extend the bill and want to generate necessary funds by imposing a $2,000 additional fee on H-1B visas. The bill has been written in such a way that it would impact only Indian companies.

According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies, Indian companies had paid between $70 to 80 million per annum between 2010 and 2015. The “extra fee applies to companies with at least 50 per cent of their employees on H-1B visa or L-1 visas, and is in addition to the other fees paid by employers,” Computerworld reported.

Because of its 50 per cent threshold, it mostly hits the large Indian IT services firms, the leading users of the H-1B visa, the report said.