Nasscom questions legality of US immigration agency’s visa fee hike plan

PUNE: Technology industry lobby, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), has questioned the legality of a move by the US immigration agency to increase fees for H-1B and L1visas, even as two US pro-immigration bodies said the proposed fee hike will prevent American businesses from being competitive.
The fee hike by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is for the short-term work permits used by IT companies to send highly-skilled workers to the US, and Nasscom has opposed it in a submission to the immigration agency’s parent, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), arguing that only the US Congress had the authority to do so. Separately, two proimmigration groups — The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Immigration Council (AIC), have jointly asked the US government to withdraw the proposal, saying it would hurt US businesses. The submissions were disclosed last week.