The Department of Labor has cut off four employers from taking part in the H-1B visa program, after federal officials determined the companies had willfully broken immigration labor rules. The move lands at a time when scrutiny of employment based immigration is already running high.
According to Newsweek, the four companies barred from the program are GowraTech, LLC, Renotek Group LLC, Seeloz, Inc. and Sherwood at Mount Dora, Inc., which operates as Sherwood Academy. The bans took effect July 1, 2026, though each company’s debarment period runs on its own separate timeline.
The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division keeps a public record of every employer barred or disqualified from the H-1B program, and the latest version of that list shows exactly when each company’s ban began and when it’s set to end.
GowraTech’s debarment stretches from May 12, 2025, to May 11, 2027. Renotek Group’s runs from August 8, 2025, to August 7, 2027. Seeloz faces a ban from March 4, 2026, to March 3, 2028. Sherwood Academy’s period covers May 26, 2026, through May 25, 2028.
What Counts as a “Willful Violator”
Under Labor Department guidance, a company earns the willful violator label after a formal enforcement proceeding finds it committed a deliberate failure or made a material misrepresentation related to H-1B labor condition requirements. In plain terms, that generally means a company either knowingly broke the rules or lied about something important tied to how it was supposed to treat H-1B workers.
Once a company lands on that list, it simply can’t sponsor new H-1B workers for the length of its debarment period, no matter how qualified a job candidate might otherwise be. The Labor Department can also conduct random compliance checks on these companies for up to three years following a two-year ban.
What This Doesn’t Mean
It’s worth being clear about what this ban does not do. Being barred from the program doesn’t automatically strip immigration status from workers who are currently or were previously employed at these companies. Each individual worker’s situation depends on separate factors, including their own approved visa petition, their current job status, and whether they have options to transfer to a new employer or extend their existing status.
Why This Is Getting Attention Now
This action comes as federal officials keep a closer eye on the H-1B system, focused on rooting out visa fraud and labor violations while trying to protect both American and foreign workers. Demand for the program hasn’t slowed down either. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on July 17, 2026, that it had already received enough petitions to fill the entire fiscal year 2027 cap, which includes 65,000 regular H-1B visas along with 20,000 additional spots reserved under the advanced degree exemption for those with U.S. graduate degrees.