India has expressed concern over the hike in visa fee by the U.S., saying it is “discriminatory” and largely affects Indian information technology professionals.
During a bilateral meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also underlined the need for early conclusion of Totalisation Agreement which would benefit Indians working in America.
Referring to the visa issue, Mr. Jaitely spoke about “India’s concern over the hike in the H-1B and L1 visa fee, which is discriminatory and in effect is largely targeted at Indian information technology companies”.
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Last year, the U.S. Congress imposed a special fee of up to $4,500 on H-1B and L-1 visas — popular among Indian IT companies — to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system.
While agreeing on the $1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on L-1 visas.