E-Paper
American visa to cost more
A new US law has created a $500 fraud prevention and detection fee, which will track down fraud in H-1B and L visas.
The US embassy has announced new visa fees for a variety of consular services at its mission in New Delhi and at the consulates in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata from March 8.
A new US law has created a $500 fraud prevention and detection fee, the proceeds of which will be used to assist in detecting and deterring fraud in H-1B and L visas, the embassy said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security will collect the new fraud prevention and detection fee from employers in the US, who file a petition to grant H-1B and L visas, or to obtain authorisation for an alien changing his employer.
Visa sections at US embassies and consulates will collect a similar $500 fee for L-1 visas as employers in the US would not have been charged this fee, the embassy statement said.
The new legislation - Consolidated Appropriations Act - has also created two other fees - a surcharge of $12 to be added to the current pass application fee and surcharge of $45 to be added to immigration visas.
The $12 surcharge will be used to increase border security and support the issuance of the newly-designed passport containing new security features, embedded with a chip on the cover.
The surcharge of $45 for strengthening the security of visa adjudication process and the physical visa document itself, takes the total fee to $380, the embassy communiqué added.
