A plea for a temporary order to halt the implementation of immigration fee hike slated to take effect on Apr 1 has been turned down by a US district court.

The request, filed by plaintiffs including ITServe Alliance, the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), and a Canadian EB-5 investor, aimed to delay the imposition of the revised fees until the resolution of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit by these stakeholders have challenged the increase in fees for EB-5 visas, H-1B, and employment-based green cards.

The US denied the request of alliances for a ‘temporary restraining order’ on the visa fee hike. As a result, the visa fee price has increased by 70% to $780.

On the other hand, Eric Garcetti, the US envoy to India, recently revealed that president Joe Biden personally directed him to reduce visa wait times in India.

It was the first time that an ambassador had been given such an instruction by the president in any country.

Garcetti said, “Every year, around 2,45,000 individuals have been provided with student visas.”

“Despite visa time being decreased to 75%, a total of 250 days are taken to issue the visa, which is still too long,” added Garcetti.

He said that, ideally, the visa wait time should be under 200 days.

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