U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced last week that President Bush has signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY 2005, which contains provisions affecting the H-1B and L nonimmigrant visa categories.  Both the H-1B and L programs allow U.S. employers to sponsor temporary foreign workers. 

Before October 1, 2003, employers who used the H-1B program were required to pay an additional $1,000 fee imposed by the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA).  In part, that $1,000 fee paid for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and other U.S. workers to attend job training and receive low-income scholarships or grants for mathematics, engineering or science enrichment courses administered by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Labor.  The ACWIA fee requirements sunset on October 1, 2003.

The H-1B provisions of the Omnibus Appropriations Act reinstitutes the ACWIA fee and raises it to $1,500.  Petitioners who employ no more than 25 full-time equivalent employees, including ay affiliate or subsidiary, may submit a reduced fee of $750.  Certain types of petitions, that were previously exempt from the $1,000 fee, are still exempt from the new $1,500 and $750 fee.  The new $1,500 and $750 fee applies to any non-exempt petitions filed with USCIS after December 8, 2004.

In addition, the Act creates a new Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee of $500, which must be paid by petitioners seeking a beneficiary’s employer within those classifications.  Other than petitions to amend or extend stay filed by an existing H-1B or L nonimmigrant classification, there are no exemptions from the $500 fee.  The new $500 fee applies to petitions filed with USCIS on or after March 8, 2005.

Each of the fees is in addition to the base-processing fee of $185 to file a Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) and any premium processing fees, if applicable.