Congressional leaders early Wednesday morning released a $1.1 trillion spending bill that dramatically hikes the H-1B filing fee for IT services that rely heavily on visa workers.

Congress must still vote to approve the spending bill. The final vote may happen Friday.

That new $4,000 fee is applied to firms of at least 50 employees and that have at least 50% of their employees on an H-1B or L-1 visa. It doubles a previous fee of $2,000, first set in 2010.

The increased fee will be used to help create a biometric entry and exit tracking system, according to the legislation.

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Source: COMPUTER WORLD