Visa reforms to require foreign scholars to pay new fee

More visa reforms are on their way. And this time, the price tag is $500 a pop.\nBeginning March 8, a new federal law will require every international scholar's visa application to include an extra $500 check -- on top of the original $185 fee. The government will use the new fee to prevent and detect fraudulent applications. \nThe additional cost could affect the number of foreign professors and researchers that universities hire because the new fee pertains only to H-1B-classifed visas, a type that is used mainly by academic institutions. \nLast year, IU-Bloomington paid approximately $36,000 in H-1B visa application fees for about 130 international employees. Increasing the cost by $500 for each application would amount to more than $100,000 for the same number of applicants. \nSome colleges are worried the extra cost will force them to hire fewer foreign workers. But IU isn't as concerned.\nCharlie Bankart, assistant director for Scholar Services in the Office of International Services, said the same bill that requires the new $500 fee features beneficial changes that could offset the cost.\nWhen applying for an H-1B visa, employers like IU are required by the U.S. Department of Labor to express a wage commitment to the foreign worker. Before the newest reforms, there were only two wage levels. Now there are four, and institutions like IU won't be forced to promise higher salaries.\n"If someone had 12 months of experience, they were immediately put in the higher tier, which is a difference of $10,000 to $20,000," Bankart said. "We were having to increase the salary being offered above and beyond what was intended just to meet Department of Labor requirements."\nThe bill also eliminates a policy requiring universities to match standard industry wages, which could save colleges a lot of money. \n"IU will not be compared to Eli Lilly anymore," he said. "The nice thing about that is we no longer have the benchmark raised so high because of highly competitive industry standards. It will be more in line with what other universities are paying."\nThe Chronicle of Higher Education reported some universities will begin filing J-1 visa applications, which are similar to H-1Bs, to avoid the $500 fee. But a J-1 visa is only valid for three years, as opposed to the H-1B visa's possible six, and foreign scholars with J-1s are unable to file for permanent residence in the United States.\nBankart said he understands the new $500 plays "a critical role" in a changing immigration world, but he is puzzled as to why the H-1B visa is specifically targeted. The H-1B is not an easier classification to obtain, he said. Bankart is also unsure why the new fee is being implemented March 8 -- in the middle of the fiscal year.\n"It's been an exceptional thing in many respects," he said. "Usually there's a period before, and that's not happened. We've only been given a month or so to make adjustments."\nThe money appropriated from the anti-fraud fee will be placed into an "H-1B and L Fraud Prevention and Detection Account." According to the bill (H.R. 4818), the account will be split evenly between the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor and the State Department. Each department will use the money to achieve one goal: to prevent and detect fraudulent applicants. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Christina Galoozis at cgaloozi@indiana.edu.