(Aug 24): The Trump administration wants to add an even more expansive US$100,000 (RM404,260) fee on the H-1B programme, applying it to individuals hired within the US through regulation after a court blocked a more limited six-figure charge on workers from outside the country.
The new US$103,265 fee would be added to all petitions for H-1B workers subject to an annual statutory cap, including those with master’s degrees. It “would serve as a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system,” according to the proposed rule released Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security’s proposal comes after a court overturned President Donald Trump’s US$100,000 charge for H-1B visa holders hired from outside the country.
That fee, issued through a White House proclamation, disrupted hiring plans for many employers but didn’t apply to students and others approved for H-1B status in the US.
DHS is also reportedly weighing a plan to add a US$100,000 charge for participation in Optional Practical Training, a postgraduate employment programme for foreign students on F-1 visas.
The H-1B programme is limited to 85,000 visa slots each year under a statutory cap, including 20,000 reserved for advanced degree holders. DHS projects fee payments for each cap-subject worker would generate US$8.8 billion annually.
The new fee would address costs of overseeing the US immigration system at DHS, as well as the departments of Labor, State, and Justice, according to the proposal. It would fund adjudication of benefits, fraud detection and national security vetting, and systems modernisation.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which houses immigration courts, would be allocated two-thirds of revenue generated by the fee.
DHS said it weighed hiking fees for all immigration applications and petitions but determined that would burden individuals and petitions not connected to employment in the US.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow