IT industry apex body Nasscom said on Tuesday that the proposed increase in US visa fees should reflect the original purpose of the H-1B programme, which allows employers to access temporary skills that face shortages in the US.

Nasscom said it remains actively engaged with all key stakeholders on the issue.

The proposed $103,265 H-1B fee comes under a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation that gives the public 30 days to submit comments.

The US administration says the fee would help recover immigration-system costs and encourage employers to hire and train American workers rather than rely on foreign labour.

Nasscom said the H-1B programme has long helped US employers address short-term skill shortages.

“It is also important to recognise that, over the past 5 years, the number of H-1B employees of Indian technology companies operating has reduced significantly, as companies have steadily expanded local hiring,” the industry body said.

The industry has also invested more than $1.1 billion in strengthening the US STEM pipeline. Nasscom said its members have worked with more than 130 universities and colleges across the US, reached 2.9 million students and upskilled more than 255,000 employees.

The Donald Trump administration has proposed an additional $103,265 fee for employers filing cap-subject H-1B petitions. The sharp increase could significantly raise the cost of hiring skilled foreign workers, including professionals from India.

DHS said the fee would apply to every cap-subject petition, including applications for workers who qualify under the advanced-degree exemption. Employers would pay the fee when they file the petition, in addition to all other applicable fees and payments.

DHS estimates that the fee could generate about $8.8 billion annually, based on an expected 85,000 cap-subject petitions each year.

The government would use the revenue to recover part of the costs of running the legal immigration system. DHS identified immigration benefit adjudication, fraud detection, national security screening, government-system modernisation and record collection among the expenses.

The US limits the annual H-1B allocation to 65,000 visas. An additional 20,000 places are available to foreign nationals who have earned a master’s degree or a higher qualification from a US institution.