On January 3, 2023, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (”USCIS”) released its long-anticipated updated fee schedule that proposes dramatic increases to the fees employers pay to employ foreign nationals using nonimmigrant visas, and access the permanent residency process.
If enacted, the greatest changes employers will face are visa classification-specific fees. Under the current fee regulation, USCIS charges a fee based on the specific form the employer uses. Employers use the same form to request a variety of different visas. Since visa petitions take dramatically different amounts of time to adjudicate, under the new fee regulations, the visa classification and not the form controls the amount of the fee.