No drop in visas issued.

 

Despite a recent abrupt hike in the fee for U.S. visas, under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, there is no drop in the number of visas issued. A special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H1B visas and $4,500 on L1 visas had been introduced by the United States and had undergone a lot of criticism about it. 

As per the new hikes almost all Indian IT companies are required to pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per H1B visa. But the U.S. embassy has confirmed that it hasn’t seen any drop in the visa requests or the visas issued to the Indian professionals. Confirming their stand that the fee hikes were not targeted at the knowledge workers in the first place.

The US consulates in India issued about a million visas of all types last year. Hopes are high that the figure will go up as the two countries have decided to make the coming year, 2017 as the year of travel and tourism. So far in this year, among the work visas issued by the United States, Indian workers have received 72 per cent of all the H1B visas issued worldwide. Similarly, Indian workers have received 30 per cent of all L1 visas (long terms business visas) that the United States have issued worldwide. And Hyderabad consulate stood fifth in terms of the number of student visas issued. 

The US issued 81 per cent more business and tourist visas in India than that issued five years ago, Bond said. India is, by far, the largest beneficiary of H1B visas which are issued to skilled workers, she added. About the incidents of denial of entry to some Indian students at the US airports, Bond said Homeland Security Department might have received different information about the students at the time of arrival.