Washington, Mar 29: The US government has clarified that there will be no hike in fee for H-1B work visa for professionals next year.
 The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had yesterday in a press release detailed application procedure for H-1B visa for fiscal year 2013 which was wrongly interpreted as hike in visa fee.
 Subsequently, USCIS as well as Indian IT industry body Nasscom have clarified that there is no hike in the visa fee.
 The US immigration agency announced yesterday that applications for the most sought after H-1B work visa – used extensively by Indian IT professionals – for the fiscal year 2013 would be accepted from April 2.
 The congressionally mandated numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2013 is 65,000, as has been in the previous year.
 Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap.
 The USCIS said H-1B applications will be considered accepted on the date it takes possession of a properly filed petition with correct fee and not the date on which it was sent.
 "If the number of applications received exceeds the numerical cap, USCIS will randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the pool of petitions received on the final receipt date," USCIS said in a statement, adding that it will reject cap-subject petitions that are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt date.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:00 IST