Dive Transient:
- The U.S. Treasury Division launched an on-line fee web site for employers to pay President Donald Trump’s $100,000 charge on new H-1B visa petitions, based on an replace final week from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies.
- USCIS stated the charge applies to new H-1B petitions filed on or after Sept. 21 on behalf of beneficiaries who’re exterior the U.S. and don’t have a legitimate H-1B visa, or whose petitions request consular notification, port of entry notification or pre-flight inspection. Cost should be made previous to submitting a petition with USCIS, per the company.
- Individually, USCIS’ replace clarified that the charge requirement doesn’t apply to petitions requesting an modification, change of standing or extension of keep for noncitizens who’re contained in the U.S., if that request is granted by USCIS. If it’s not granted, then the charge applies.
Dive Perception:
Trump’s proclamation asserting the H-1B charge left employers with loads of unanswered questions. Whereas Monday’s replace supplies some readability, the coverage’s future continues to be unsure partly as a result of enterprise teams, employers, unions, lawmakers and different stakeholders oppose it.
Not less than two lawsuits have been filed in search of to enjoin the charge proclamation — one by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., and one other by a group of plaintiffs in California. Each equally alleged that the H-1B charge violates the constitutional separation of powers in addition to the Administrative Process Act. The complaints additionally warned of adverse results on U.S. employers that rely upon the H-1B program to draw expert international staff.
In a letter to Trump and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers agreed to the necessity for reform of the H-1B program whereas expressing issues concerning the potential results of the charge on U.S. employers’ skill to compete with their world counterparts for expertise.
“The not too long ago introduced H-1B visa adjustments will undermine the efforts of the very catalysts of our innovation economic system — startups and small expertise companies — that can’t soak up prices on the identical degree as bigger companies,” the lawmakers wrote.
Trump and the White Home have stated the charge is important to fight “systemic abuse” of the H-1B program by employers that search to artificially suppress wages at the price of lowered job alternatives for U.S. residents. Along with the charge imposed on new visa petitions, the administration issued a proposed rule to vary its choice course of for H-1B visas to be weighted in favor of higher-paying presents.
USCIS’ steerage famous that the Secretary of Homeland Safety might grant different exceptions to the H-1B charge in “terribly uncommon” circumstances the place:
- A beneficiary’s presence is within the nationwide curiosity.
- No American employee is obtainable to fill the function.
- The beneficiary doesn’t pose a menace to U.S. safety or welfare.
- Requiring fee from the employer would considerably undermine U.S. pursuits.
The company offered an e mail tackle to which employers might ship requests for charge exemption together with supporting proof.
Employers planning to file for brand new H-1B visas ought to plan to pay the charge until litigation leads to some type of change, Akshat Divatia, legal professional at legislation agency Harris Sliwoski, wrote in an article Tuesday. Divatia famous that a few of the standards for exemptions outlined by USCIS might battle with congressional design of the H-1B program, and that employers “ought to watch carefully how the courts reply” to such arguments.
