Immigrant Daily

Senate Passes a Bill Seeking to Substantially Increase H-1B Fees

Late last week, the Senate passed an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) that would increase the H-1B fees paid by the employer from the current $1,500 to $5,000.  This amendment was authored by Senators Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sanders (I-VT), who sponsored a similar amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that failed this past summer.  The amendment calls for $3,000 of the fee to fund a new merit-based American Competitiveness Scholarship program for U.S. students pursuing education in computer science, engineering, mathematics, nursing and medicine.  Under the program the National Science Institute would award qualified individuals up to $15,000 annually.

For employers that have 25 or fewer employees in the United States, the $3,500 extra fee would be reduced to $1,750. 

The bill now moves to the conference committee where the bills from the House and Senate will be reconciled.  The House bill does not contain any of these provisions.  There is also the possibility that this bill will be combined with other appropriation bills as part of an omnibus package.  It has been reported that President Bush has threatened to veto this bill because it exceeds the budget he outlined by almost $9 billion creating additional uncertainty for the fate of this bill.

Although at first glance this amendment may seem like a good idea for the United States, because it funds a scholarship program, the true impact of this new fee may have consequences that are much worse than anticipated.  Tech employers have long threatened that if the H-1B cap (currently at 85,000)is not increased they will move their production out of the United States to countries that can provide them with the much needed educated workforce, like India.  This fee just may be the impetus for this move off shore.  To increase the fees and not make any new visas available in a program that already is insufficient to meet the demands of U.S. employers is a true showing of ignorance on part of our legislators.  It is nice that we want to provide scholarships to students who want to work in technical areas, however consider where these students will work if the tech employers are no longer in the United States.  Perhaps then we can supply well-educated students to companies in India and China.  As far as I am concerned, this amendment is another example of anti-immigrant attitudes and our failure to truly understand the consequences of globalization and its impact on the movement of knowledge and people around the world.  Discouraging immigration of well-educated and trained individuals is a mistake that will prove to be very costly to our nation.  I just hope that people will understand this fact before it is too late.