Our Austin immigration lawyers are often asked how much it costs to apply for an H-1B visa if you want to employ a foreign worker in a specialty occupation.
The H-1B visa is widely used to attract workers from other countries to fill specialty occupations. Many companies use the visas for engineers, scientists and computer programs. They are particularly popular in the tech sector.
Details of the costs as well as the number of visas available are published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as well as the numbers of visas available in the 2017 cap season.
There are different fees depending on the type of H-1B petition you are submitting. All petitioners are required to pay a base filing fee of $325 for each petition filed.
Further Fees for an H-1B Visa Application
Under the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998, a further fee is payable for the application, subject to the cap.
The fee is:
- $750 for employers with up to 25 full-time equivalent employees, unless exempt;
- $1,500 for employers with 26 or more full-time equivalent workers, unless exempt.
Other fees may be applicable. They include the fraud prevention and detection fee.
This requires $500 to be submitted with a request for an initial H-1B status or with a request for a beneficiary in H-1B status to change employers. It’s not applicable to petitions from China or Singapore.
USCIS also requires a public law fee for companies that employ more than 50 people in the United States if more than half of them are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant visa holders.
The money must be submitted with the initial request for H-1B visa or a request for a beneficiary who is already in H-1B status.
When employers request premium processing of their H-1B request, they face a four-figure processing fee of $1,225.
Applying for visas for skilled foreign workers can be a costly process. It’s also a very complicated one. By hiring an experienced Austin visa attorney, we can help make the process more smooth for you and advise you on all the necessary fees.
These visas are very popular and are under threat from the new administration. It’s vital to get your application right the first time.
Please call our Austin business immigration lawyers today for a consultation at (512) 399-2311.