The U.S. Department of Labor Dec. 1 released a list of 11 firms who are currently disbarred from applying for H-1B visas, often used by Indian workers.
The disbarment periods range from just a few months to almost two years. Six of the 11 firms were termed “willful violators,” meaning they had failed to comply with the criteria required to apply for an H-1B visa and had Labor Department investigations pending against them.
A fact sheet released by the Labor Department explains that firms applying for H-1B visas for temporary, highly-skilled workers from abroad must meet several criteria. An employer must not have displaced a U.S. worker at the time of filing an H-1B petition; they also must have made substantive attempts to recruit U.S. workers.
If the H-1B worker is to be placed at a secondary job site, the petitioner must ensure that the secondary employer has not displaced a U.S. worker, and that The employer has offered the job to any equally or better qualified U.S. worker who applies for the job for which the H-1B worker is sought.
Employers circumventing such rules or misrepresenting facts regarding whether they obeyed the rules are termed willful violators.
The six willful violators on the Labor Department’s list include:
– Business Reporting Management Services, Inc., based in Parlin New Jersey. The firm’s disbarment period began in August 2018 and continues to August 2020.
l Comprehensive Kids Development School, based in New York. The school’s disbarment period began in April 2019 and will continue until April 2021. A Google search indicated that the school may have shut down.
– E-Aspire IT, LLC, based in Cranbury, New Jersey. The firm’s debarment period also lasts from April 2019 to April 2021.
– How We Fund It, Inc., is disqualified from October 2019 to October 2021.
– Kimberly Fisher, whose firm could not be found. Fisher’s debarment period lasts from October 2019 to October 2021.
– The Law Office of Paul Wiesenfeld in Rockville, Maryland is barred from April 2019 to April 2021.
Five other firms not termed willful violators were also announced as disbarred. They include: Azimetry, Inc., in Redmond, Washington; Bulman Consultant Group in Chicago, Illinois; EWC and Associates, who has since shut down; Kevin Chambers, whose information could not be found; and NetAge, based in West Newto
