A federal US agency stated that companies applying L-1 visa applications would have to pay additional $4,500 than other US companies. This will be in effect till September 30, 2025.
While the H-1B visa is designed to allow US employers to recruit and employ foreign professionals, the L-1 visas are available to employees of an international company with offices in both the US and abroad.
Indian IT firms - which have to incur an additional burden of about $400 million annually - have called it "discriminatory", with Prime Minister
US federal Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted the details of the increased fee on its website today.
For H-1B petitioners, one "must pay the additional $4,000 fee" if the company employs 50 or more employees in the US and more than half of those are in H-1B, L-1A, or L-1B nonimmigrant status.
The figure increases to $4,500 for those applying for L-1 visas.