The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has submitted a proposal to impose a fee on employers who register for the H-1B cap starting next year.
Under current rules, an employer that submits an H-1B cap petition is subject to the following fees:
- Form I-129 filing fee: $460
- H-1B Training and Education Fee: $1,500 (or $750 for employers with 25 or fewer employees)
- Anti-fraud fee: $500
- Border security fee: $4000, if the petitioner has 50 or more employees in the U.S. and more than 50% of them are in H-1B or L-1 status
- Premium Processing fee: $1,410, if available and selected by the petitioner
Under this new proposal, employers would submit an online registration and fee for each foreign national they wish to sponsor for the H-1B cap. An employer would only submit a petition and filing fees if a registration is selected during the H-1B cap lottery. At this time, the fee amount for the registration has not been specified.
At this point, the proposal is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the first step toward implementation. OMB has 90 days from the date of submission to review the proposal. Once it clears OMB, the proposal will be published in the Federal Register for 30 to 60 days of public comments and feedback. After the public comment period closes, DHS will review the feedback and prepare to issue a final regulation. It is expected that this final regulation for a registration fee will be in place by the time the FY2021 H-1B cap season begins next year.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions regarding this matter.