The Wage and Hour Division under the U.S. Department of Labor announced H-1B Debarred/Disqualified List of Employers which went effective on April 1, 2021. H1B visa 2021 and H1B visa 2022 applicants should review the list of the debarred employers for successful H1B filing.
This blog post will briefly look at the definition of willful violator employer and the impact of debarment on H1B visa filing.
Contents
What is a willful violator employer?
Fact Sheet #62S: What is a willful violator employer? explains that “Willful violator” or “willful violator employer,” means an employer that meets all of the following standards:
- A finding of violation by the employer is entered in either of the following two types of enforcement proceeding:
- A Department of Labor proceeding under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 212(n)(2); (8 U.S.C. § 1182(n)(2)(C); or
- A Department of Justice proceeding under INA § 212(n)(5); (8 U.S.C.§ 1182(n)(5).)
- The agency finds that the employer has committed either a willful failure or a misrepresentation of a material fact (two of the Labor Condition Application (LCA) attestations; and
- The agency’s finding is entered on or after October 21, 1998.
To put it simply, when H1B visa sponsors put the wrong information on the Labor Condition Application (LCA) which is a key component of H1B filing, or don’t follow the related law/regulations, they will be considered willful violators. According to the immigration resources, H1B sponsors who violated the law are subject to the following:
- Payback the required wage to the employees
- Civil penalties and fines to the employer up to $1,000 per violation, and up to $5,000 per violation for a finding of a “willful” failure to comply with the regulations.
- If the ALJ determines a violation is willful, and, as a result of such violation a U.S. worker was displaced, the employer may be subject to additional fines of up to $35,000 per incident
- Willful violators may be debarred from using the H-1B program for a period of up to three years
- Willful violators are subject to random investigations by the Department of Labor for a period of up to five years from the date that the employer is determined to be a willful violator.
List of H1B debarred/disqualified employers
The table below is the list of h1b debarred/ disqualified employers as of April 2021. If you are working for the following employers and would like to proceed with an H1B visa 2021, it may be in your interest to not file the H1b visa 2021 and 2022 petition during each sponsor’s debarment period, if possible.
To check any updates on the list, please click here: H-1B Debarred/Disqualified List of Employers.
| Employer Name | Willful Violator | Debarment Period |
|---|---|---|
| Azimetry, Inc. | No | 9/19/2019 to 9/19/2021 |
| Bulmen Consultant Group, Inc. | No | 8/27/2019 to 8/26/2021 |
| Business Intelligence Solutions, Inc. | No | 7/23/2020 to 7/22/2022 |
| Comprehensive Kids Developmental School | Yes | 4/20/2019 to 4/20/2021 |
| E-Aspire IT LLC | Yes | 4/20/2019 to 4/20/2021 |
| How We Fund It, Inc. | Yes | 10/16/2019 to 10/16/2021 |
| Kimberley Fisher | Yes | 4/20/2019 to 4/20/2021 |
| Mudiam, Inc. | No | 6/18/2020 to 6/17/2022 |
| NETAGE, Inc. | No | 6/14/2019 to 6/14/2021 |
| Open Access Technology International, Inc. | No | 11/30/2020 to 11/29/2022 |
| Paragon Skydive, LLC | No | 2/5/2021 to 2/4/2022 |
| Law Office of Paul R. Weisenfeld | Yes | 4/20/2019 to 4/20/2021 |
| Reddy Rameswar | No | 6/18/2020 to 6/17/2022 |
| Visionsoft International, Inc. | No | 9/23/2020 to 9/23/2021 |
This blog post had a look at the list of debarred/disqualified employer lists for H1B visas. To read all the H1B visa-related updates and news, check out this H-1B page.
