Washington sources reported that the US plans to hike the H-1B visa application fee to increase funding for the expansion of an apprentice program, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has told American lawmakers, a move that would impose additional financial burden on Indian IT companies.
Meanwhile when testifying before a Congressional committee on the annual budget of the Department of Labor for the fiscal year 2020 beginning October 1, 2019, he said that the Labor Department has also made changes to the H-1B application forms to ensure greater transparency and better protect American workers from employers seeking to misuse the program.
Furthermore given past experience, the Indian IT companies, which account for a large number of H-1B applications, are likely to face the additional financial burden because of this proposed increase in H-1B filing fees. Moreover the H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Hence the technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
