December 8, 2004

President Signs Bill; USCIS Indicates $1500 ACWIA - Department of Labor Training Fee Goes Into Effect Immediately

The President signed the Omnibus spending bill for FY 2005, HR 4818, this afternoon. No Public Law number is yet available. This is the bill which contains the changes to the H-1B provisions. Unfortunately for employers, the legislation mandates increased filing fees (both the new security/fraud fee and the resurrection of the ACWIA training fee), as previously reported by GT. It appears from this afternoon's Press Release that USCIS is implementing the training fee immediately and it will be effective for all H-1B petitions filed after today, December 8, for which the fee is applicable. (It is not applicable in certain situations, such as petitions filed by educational institutions and non-profit research institutions and second extensions).

The $500 security fee will be implemented separately and will be effective as of March 8, 2005. The security fee will be required for L-1 petitions as well as H-1B petitions.

The training fee amount varies depending upon the size of the employer. Specifically, if an employer has 26 or more employees, they will have to pay not only the $185 filing fee to USCIS, but the training fee of $1500. If they have 25 or fewer employees, the training fee is only $750. The fee of $1000 for premium processing remains the same for those who opt for it.

GT will provide updates as they are available.

  USCIS Press Release (PDF/105 kb, 2 pages)