As Fee Increases Begin, Bay Area Businesses Rush to Hire Foreign Workers
Posted on | August 10, 2010 | 1 Comment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco and one of California’s most famous national politicians, called the House of Representatives back into session this week and interrupted Congress’s usual August recess. Pelosi took the unusual step to address business left unfinished in the last session, including the approval of popular education legislation that is said to have saved as many as 300,000 teachers’ jobs across the country from state budget cuts. The House also quietly passed a major immigration enforcement bill that will make hiring foreign workers with H-1B Visas more expensive.
California’s budget crisis has been discussed in the capital of Sacramento and even nationally, and residents across the state are reeling from budget cuts in Oakland, Merced, Modesto, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Chico, Fresno, and elsewhere. Under these conditions, the additional funding for education was generally regarded as a vital step even though Republicans opposed it. Where there was not disagreement was on the issue of border security.
Responding to public attitudes about illegal immigration and increased calls for tough enforcement, President Obama has promised to send between 1,200 and 1,500 additional National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to patrol it and catch illegal aliens. Paying for these troops falls to Congress, and the House passed a bill to fund the increase with little controversy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the $600 million in troop pay and supplies will be financed by sharp increases on some foreign workers. Currently, it costs $320 to file an H-1B petition with the USCIS, but for firms that hire more than half of their employees with the popular visas, the fees will increase by some $2,000.
Hearing the news, many California companies — such as technology firms in Silicon Valley that depend on foreign engineers — are considering filing early for the 2011 H-1B Visa application period to avoid the fee increases. Others are considering H-1B alternatives to save money without losing their foreign workers.
If you would like to learn more about H-1B visas or want to learn about other business visas, contact us today for a free consultation with our San Francisco business immigration lawyer.
Tags: Border Security > Business Visa > California > Chico > Employment Visa > Enforcement > Filing Fees > Foreign Worker > Fresno > H-1B Visa > House of Representatives > Illegal Alien > Illegal Immigrant > Immigration Attorney > Immigration Lawyer > Merced > Modesto > Nancy Pelosi > National Guard > Oakland > Petaluma > President Obama > Sacramento > San Francisco > San Jose > Santa Cruz > Santa Rosa > Silicon Valley > US-Mexico Border > USCIS > Wall Street Journal
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August 11th, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
[...] is also calling the Senate back into session from recess, as did his colleague Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, to authorize funding for 1,200 to 1,500 additional troops to patrol the US-Mexico [...]