In what can be called a huge relief to Indian IT and consultancy firms, the mandatory additional $2,000 fee towards outsourcing charges on the H-1B visa has expired by 30th September, 2015.
Until now, the Indian firms paid several million dollars for their H-1B visa employees outsourced to the US. The US Congress in 2010 imposed the law of ‘discriminatory’ $2,000 fee on IT firms with more than 50% of its IT professionals in the US.
The law lets the visa authorities to hike H-1B and L-1 Visa fee by $2,000 and $2,250 respectively on each application. According to a recent NASSCOM report, the Indian tech industry contributed an approximate $375 million since 2010 to the US Treasury including helping America secure its US-Mexico border.
Terming the fee unjustified, NASSCOM said “It had nothing to do with the IT industry.” However, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA) criticised the US Congress for the lapse of the H-1B fee, and in a latest statement, the Congressional authorities said that the Congress can still reinstall the discriminatory H-1B fee.
Recent Random Post:
