Relief for H-1B, non-immigrant visa holders as US court blocks 'fee hike'

A US federal court has granted a preliminary injunction against the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee hike that was scheduled to come into effect from October 2.
 

The move offers temporary relief to non-immigrant visa holders and Indian IT companies, which are major beneficiaries of such visas.

"The temporary injunction is a positive outcome for both humanitarian cases (such as asylum) and in business cases such as H-1Bs as many would pay an additional $4,000 per application, going forward, otherwise," Poorvi Chothani, founder and managing partner of LawQuest, a Mumbai-based US immigration law firm. "Though it is a temporary injunction, this gives us hope that hurdles in the form of the interim final rulings (IFRs), right before the elections, are being questioned by the courts," she said.

The interim rule, if approved, will come into force immediately and the stakeholders and public will now have an opportunity to voice their opinion.

In his decision, Judge Jeffrey White of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California said that the plaintiffs had raised “serious questions” about the validity of the fee hike because both, the previous and current acting secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were unlawfully appointed to their posts. He also said the rule would put low-income immigrants at a severe disadvantage. The federal court judgement also indicates that the move merits more analysis.

 

The federal agency had put forward a proposal to hike the fees for H-1B high-skill visas by 21 per cent to $555, while that for L (intra-company transfer) visas has been increased by 75 per cent to $850. Explaining the rationale behind the move, the USCIS said that a status quo, with no fee increases, would leave the agency underfunded by about $1 billion annually.

IT experts say the move will benefit IT firms in terms of operating margins. "It is definitely a good move for IT companies as most would have entered deals based on the previously-signed billing rates. Any additional cost would have only been borne by the service providers themselves," said an IT sector analyst on the condition of anonymity.

The US government issued over 188,000 H-1B visas and 125,000 H4 visas in calendar year 2019, according to its Bureau of Consular Affairs website. Major beneficiaries in both the cases were Indians.

The development comes at a time when another proposal, related to wage conditions, was submitted by the Department of Labour (DoL) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (under Office of Management and Budget) last week. Though the fine print is not publicly available, legal experts are of the opinion that this would alter the minimum wages of H-1B, L1, and other non-immigrant visa holders in order to discourage the use.

"The US government may now have second thoughts about taking the IFR route for raising the minimum wages of H-1B workers as well," Chothani added.