The H-1B and L-1 “50/50”filing fees are back and larger than ever. Last night, the House Republican leadership posted the fulltext of the Consolidated Appropriations Bill of 2016. The Act revives the additional H-1B and L-1 filing fees for “50/50 employers”. A “50/50 employer is one has more than 50employees , where more than 50 percent of the employees hold H-1B or L-1status. Upon the forthcoming enactmentof this new Act, the new combined filing and fraud fees for 50/50 employerswill be H-1B: $4,000 and L-1: $4,500. This fee will apply to all H-1Bs and L-1s, even if it is an extension ofstatus.
ILWhas a nice table of other immigration provisions that are included in the Act,such as H-2, Physicians, E-Verify, R-1, EB-5, and Visa Waivers. Most of these are routine extensions of existingprograms that had recently ended.
In 2010, Congresspassed the original “50/50” increased filing fee rule. PL111-230 raised H-1B and L-1 filing fees for employers who have over 50employees with more than 50% of these employees in H-1B or L-1 status. H-1B petitions were assessed an additional$2,000 in filing fees. L-1 petitionerswere assessed $2,250 in additional filing fees. PL 111-230 was originally to end in 2014, butwas re-authorized until September 30, 2015. Itdid sunset on September 30, 2015. For the last three months, there has been no increased filing fee for50/50 employers.