Uh, oh. According to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule, companies heavily reliant on foreign talent will now face a massive increase in cost retaining of those workers. The rule targets businesses with 50 or more U.S. employees where over half of their workforce holds H-1B or L-1 visas. Until now, these employers only had to pay the $4,000 for H-1B or $4,500 for L-1 as “Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee” when sponsoring an employee’s initial visa or when transferring a worker from another company.
New DHS rule for H-1B visa and L-1 visa extensions
On August 10, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule requiring employers to pay fees towards a biometric entry-exist system for H-1B or L-1 visa holders where they were previously exempt.
This unique ruling, which takes effect September 9, applies to employers with more than 50 employees who employee more than one-half of their workers on either H-1B or L-1 visas.
Since 2015, these employers have had to pay a $4,000 or $4,500 fee for H-1B and L-1 visa petitions, respectively. According to the DHS, the supplemental fees are intended to assist the department in implementing an automated biometric system for immigrants entering or departing the US. This particular system dates back to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
How much does it cost to extend an H-1B visa or L-1 visa?
Until now, employers were only required to pay these fees when submitting H-1B or L-1 petitions that also included a separate fraud prevention and detection fee.
The new rule expands the cases under which employers will have to pay these fees. Companies are now required to pay them not only when they first seek to sponsor an employee on H-1B or L-1 visa, but also when they file extension petitions to keep these workers employed in the US for longer. The fee will apply to all status extension petitions, regardless of whether the business is also subject to a fraud prevention and detection fee.
According to the DHS, the rule aligns with Congress’s intent when it passed the original statute requiring these fees, and help the agency meet its congressional mandates.
The American Immigrant Lawyers Association, which opposed the DHS rule in a public comment, argues that the rule would disproportionately impact small businesses. “Potentially imposing hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional fees could affect their ability to maintain and/or expand their businesses, resulting both in lost jobs for foreign born and US workers as well as decreased tax revenue,” the organization wrote.
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