Indian professionals working in the US on H-1B and L-1 visas might face larger employment-related immigration prices after the US expanded an present payment to cowl visa extension petitions filed by sure employers. Based on PTI, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) has prolonged the scope of the Sep 11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Charge to cowl H-1B and L-1 extension-of-stay petitions. The change applies even when a international employee stays with the identical employer.
The payment itself has not been elevated. Employers coated by the rule can pay $4,000 for an H-1B petition and $4,500 for an L-1 petition.
The ultimate rule was printed on August 10 and can take impact on September 9, 2026.
For Indian professionals, the change provides one other layer to an already tightening US employment-based immigration system. The instant fee can be made by qualifying employers, however the wider prices might affect how firms strategy hiring, sponsorship and retention of international staff.
WHO WILL HAVE TO PAY?
The expanded payment doesn’t apply to each US employer sponsoring an H-1B or L-1 employee. It applies to firms which have no less than 50 staff in the US and the place greater than 50 per cent of the workforce are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant standing.
This threshold is often generally known as the 50-50 rule.
For employers that meet each circumstances, the $4,000 H-1B payment and $4,500 L-1 payment will now apply to extension-of-stay petitions in addition to the classes that have been already coated. Which means an organization might face the cost once more when it seeks to increase the standing of an present international worker.
WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR H-1B WORKERS?
The important thing change shouldn’t be the quantity of the payment however when the payment needs to be paid. The Sep 11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Charge shouldn’t be new. Congress launched it in December 2015 as a substitute for an earlier supplemental cost.
The cash is meant to help the US biometric entry-exit system, which makes use of biometric info to assist affirm the identities of individuals coming into and leaving the nation. Beforehand, qualifying employers typically paid the payment for sure preliminary H-1B and L-1 petitions and when an H-1B or L-1 employee modified employers.
The brand new rule expands the requirement to extension-of-stay petitions.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR INDIAN IT WORKERS
The change might be notably related to giant know-how firms, consulting corporations and IT providers suppliers that rely closely on international professionals.
Indian professionals are notably uncovered to modifications within the H-1B system. Based on the US Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS), 71 per cent of all H-1B petitions authorized in fiscal 12 months 2024 have been for beneficiaries born in India, making Indians by far the biggest group amongst H-1B beneficiaries. China was a distant second at about 12 per cent.
For an employer with solely a handful of coated staff, an extra $4,000 or $4,500 could also be manageable. The calculation modifications for firms with lots of or 1000’s of staff whose standing must be prolonged.
DHS estimates that increasing the payment to extra petitions might generate about $157.3 million yearly. The income is tied to the federal government’s biometric entry-exit programme.
EMPLOYERS, NOT WORKERS, PAY THE FEE
For Indian H-1B and L-1 staff, crucial level is that the brand new cost is imposed on the petitioning employer. Employees should not have to make a separate fee just because their employer is topic to the expanded rule.
That doesn’t imply there could be no oblique penalties.
Corporations might issue immigration bills into choices involving recruitment, sponsorship and retention. Employers that already spend closely on immigration compliance might additionally reassess the variety of international staff they sponsor or the areas from which they recruit.
The impact is prone to differ significantly between firms.
NOT THE SAME AS THE $100,000 H-1B FEE
The expanded $4,000 H-1B and $4,500 L-1 fees shouldn’t be confused with the separate $100,000 H-1B payment introduced by the Trump administration.
They’re completely different measures.
The $4,000 and $4,500 quantities are a part of the present statutory Sep 11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Charge. DHS has expanded the circumstances during which qualifying employers should pay it.
The brand new rule due to this fact doesn’t imply that each H-1B extension within the US will routinely appeal to a $4,000 cost. Whether or not the payment applies relies upon largely on the employer’s workforce composition and the kind of petition being filed.
– Ends
With inputs from PTI
