Senate Raises Employer Sponsored Visa Application Fees

Senate has approved a large fee increase on the employer-sponsored visas; H-1B and L-1 this past Thursday. The fee increase will help offset the costs of a $600 million emergency package that improves security along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Senate measure will increase visa application fees by $2,000 per applicant for those firms that have 50% of their employees on the visa. The most affected firms will be the large Indian offshore firms and smaller outsourcing companies that do office parks around the U.S.