WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday proposed a 103,265-U.S.-dollar fee for H-1B cap-subject petitions, marking the agency's newest move to restrict the visa program on new grounds.
The move came after previous efforts to charge 100,000 dollars for the visa were struck down by the courts.
"The proposed fee would generate revenue to recover a portion of the federal government's costs for administering the lawful immigration system," the DHS said in a news release.
The new fee is designed to recover a portion of the full costs of providing immigration adjudication and naturalization services incurred by multiple federal agencies in processing, adjudicating, and supporting the lawful immigration system, according to a document scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.
The DHS estimates the proposed fee would generate approximately 8.8 billion dollars annually, based on a projected annual volume of 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions, according to the release.
Under the proposed rule, the additional fee would not apply to H-1B petitions that are not subject to the cap, such as petitions filed by certain nonprofit research organizations, governmental research organizations, and institutions of higher education, the release added.
The public will be given a 30-day period to submit comments on the proposed rule before it can take effect.
"If finalized, the new proposal would place a significant new burden on the technology and finance sectors, which rely on the H-1B visa to hire top international graduates from U.S. universities," The Wall Street Journal reported. ■