The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in a specialty occupation for a period of three years. The visa can be extended for an additional three years. The employer can also employ the employee part-time.

Filing Fees 

• Standard (Base Filing) Fee: The standard (base) H-1B visa processing fee is $460 and this is for the I-129 petition. This H1B visa fee is also applicable to transfers, amendments and renewals. 
• ACWIA (Training) Fee: For employers who have between 1-25 full-time workers, the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act fee is $750. For employers with 26+ full-time employees, the fee is $1,500. Some organizations are exempt from this training fee including non-profits with affiliations to educational institutions, governmental research organizations and primary/secondary educational institutions. 
• Fraud Prevention & Detection Fee: This $500 fee is applicable to new H-1B petitioners or those changing employers. This H-1B visa fee is not required for extensions with the same sponsoring employer.
• Public Law 111-230 Fee: This H-1B visa fee is applicable to companies that have upwards of 50 employees with over half on H-1B or L1 status. The PL 111-230 was suspended in October 2015, but was replaced by PL 114-113 on December 18, 2015. This law requires H-1B petitioners that employ 50 or more employees in the United States if more than 50 percent of these employees are in H-1B, L-1A or L-1B nonimmigrant status to pay an additional $4,000 per applicant
• Optional H-1B Visa Fees: Premium processing is an option available to those who want to expedite the H-1B visa process. This service is offered by the Department of Homeland Security and guarantees a 15-day time frame. In order to do so you must complete form I-907 along with the $1225 fee. Again, this is one of the optional H-1B visa fees. Another option is to have family members apply to be dependents of the petitioner by filing out Form I-539. Currently, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service has suspended premium processing and it is not available.

Fee Breakdown

Who Pays Filing & Legal Fees 

• For legal fees the H-1B employer cannot require that an employee pay for or reimburse the employer for attorney fees associated with an H-1B Visa.
• The employer is required to sign an attestation in the labor condition application that they paid the fees and that they will not seek reimbursement from the employee.
• The same rule applies to most filing fees except that the employee can pay the premium processing fee

Next Topic - Employer Responsibilities

The next topic covered in our four part series on the H-1B specialty occupation visa will discuss employer responsibilities.

Learn More

To learn more about how to sponsor an employee on an H-1B visa, contact the team at Pollak PLLC today.

We are passionate about helping people realize the American Dream, reuniting families, and bringing the best and brightest minds to the U.S. so they can pursue their goals and make a positive, meaningful contribution to the community.

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Karen-Lee Pollak is the Managing Attorney at Pollak PLLC located in Dallas, Texas. She is a frequent speaker, author and blogger on immigration issues. She can be reached at karenlp@pollakimmigration or under her twitter handle law_immigration.