The United States is likely to announce a huge increase in costs of H1B VISAS and GREEN CARD Charges. This would become a huge burden for people visiting the US and who plan to become the citizens of US in the Financial Year 2024 – 2025.
In this article, you will know about the upcoming changes made by USCIS and NPRM with charges being active with an effective period of 60-90 days after its announcement.
Proposal For Increase In H1B VISAS and GREEN CARD Charges:
The immigration services along with US citizenship are set to become more costlier from 2024 with an announcement coming out soon from the USCIS (us citizenship and immigration services). The USCIS has proposed a review of fees in January 2023 and acknowledged the same with the US government.
However, the proposal has received huge criticism from 6000 individuals during a 2-month comment period. Notably, it is being said that this could become a huge burden on H1B Workers and Green Card Holders with an increase in charges after its approval.
The USCIS acknowledged the need for an increase in charges due to an increase in revenue challenges after the pandemic and along with a surge in employment-based visa petitions.
H1B VISAS And GREEN CARD New Charges:
Reports claimed that the E-registration of H1B Visas rose by a huge percentage reflecting a fee of $215 from $10 along with the increase in the application fee of $320 for both sponsorship visas through lotteries and as well as individual visas.
While selected beneficiaries will have to pay 70% which equals $780. The US immigration agency already announced a 12% increase in premium processing fee costs of around $2,805 from 26th February 2024.
On the other hand, NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING (NPRM) has announced an increase in the fee of citizenship approval with an extra $170 plus the existing fee of $640 and a significant increase for EB-5 investors. According to NPRM I-526 petition fee is set at $11,160 with an increase of 204% while the I-829 petition fee for removing conditions over permanent visas is set at $9,535 with an increase of 148%, which would become a huge burden to avail the immigration and citizenship approvals.
Proposed Changes In January 2023:
- H1B E-REGISTRATION FEE – From $10 to $215
- PETITION FOR H1B VISA – From $460 to $780
- PETITION FOR L-VISA (intra-company transfer) – From $460 to $1,385
- PETITION BY EB-INVESTOR (investment linked to a green card) – From $3675 to $11,160
- PETITION BY EB-5 INVESTOR BY REMOVING CONDITIONS OVER PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS (with biometric services) – From $3,835 to $9,525
- APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION (online) – From $410 to $555
- APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION (paper filling) – From $410 to $650
- APPLICATION TO ADJUST TO GREEN CARD STATUS (with biometric services) – From $1,225 to $1,540
- APPLICATION FOR CITIZENSHIP (online or paper filling) – From $640 to $760
the full specific content of the final regulation to be unveiled after the official publication, while the proposed H1B visas and citizenship crossed the final step by clearing the OFFICE of MANAGEMENT and BUDGET (OMB) federal review in the process of moving ahead for implementation. The proposal was named 1615-AC68 in the WHITE HOUSE for review as stated by the Bloomberg report.
Conclusion:
The impact of the increase in charges for the opening of the FY2025 season in March 2024 is still unknown but can be known after its official announcement which is going to come out very soon as per official sources.
USCIS has said that it was essential to increase the fee due to funding and sustaining agency operations along with a few legal professionals demanding adjustments. There are many incidents that USCIS came across about the misuse of the lottery system which is given for sponsoring visas to immigrants, which is also a reason for increasing the charges.
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