Dive Brief:
- The federal government will soon discontinue a $2,000 per application fee for H1-B visa users, FierceCIO reports.
- The motivation behind the fee was to recover some of the costs associated with moving jobs to non-American workers.
- Congress currently has no plan to extend it.
Dive Insight:
The fee only applies to companies made up 50% or more of overseas workers. The funds are currently used for 9/11 first responder healthcare support. The original purpose of the bill was to encourage American companies not to reach overseas for tech company employees.
The top employers of H1-B workers are all IT consulting firms and include Infosys Limited, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, and Wipro Limited.
Recent legislation introduced in California seeks to prohibit businesses from shifting jobs overseas after Southern California Edison workers complained over 500 of them were laid off so the company could outsource labor at a lower cost. The fact that Congress does not currently plan to re-up the fee may anger some groups that stand against the use of H1-B visa use by American companies.
