Cognizant's Green-Card Filings Suspended by Labor Department Amid Fraud Investigation

The U.S. Department of Labor has suspended Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.'s ability to file new employment-based green-card applications while officials investigate alleged fraud tied to the company's use of federal visa programs.

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito announced the suspension on X on September 8. "Cognizant's PERM filings are suspended," he wrote, adding that his office is working with the White House Fraud Task Force. "Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated... Handcuffs await."

D'Esposito said the same day that Cloudera, a U.S. enterprise software company, has also had its PERM filings suspended. He named Labor Department official Keith Sonderling as a partner in the effort, calling the crackdown a "TEAM SPORT."

What PERM actually is

PERM, the Permanent Labor Certification program, is the first formal step employers take when sponsoring a foreign worker for a green card. Before filing an immigration petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an employer must get the Labor Department to certify that no qualified American worker is available for the job and that hiring a foreign worker won't hurt wages or working conditions for U.S. employees, according to the Department's own process as described by CNBC-TV18 and LiveMint.

PERM is not a visa. It's not H-1B. And a suspension of PERM filings does not, by itself, touch a company's existing H-1B visa program, according to Outlook Business and NDTV. Cognizant's already-approved green cards, PERM certifications and H-1B visas are not affected by this action, per CNBC-TV18.

What we don't know

D'Esposito's announcement did not name a single specific allegation against Cognizant. It did not say how many PERM filings are frozen, how many employees might be affected, or how long the suspension will last. No criminal charges have been filed against Cognizant or Cloudera. Neither company was given a chance to respond in the material the Inspector General released, and multiple outlets, including Newsweek and Mint, reported that Cognizant did not respond to requests for comment.

When a federal official posts "handcuffs await" on social media without laying out the underlying conduct, the public is asked to trust an accusation it can't independently evaluate. The Newsbytes App reported the broader fraud investigation began in July, and whistleblower complaints are what triggered scrutiny of Cognizant's H-1B and PERM practices, according to CNBC-TV18. Whistleblower complaints alleging visa-program abuse that hurts American workers are a legitimate and serious concern if true. But an allegation in a complaint is not a finding, and no finding has been announced.

The context critics point to

Cognizant is typically among the largest H-1B petitioners in corporate America. USCIS data cited by Newsweek and Hindustan Times show the company had 3,510 approved H-1B petitions through June 30 of fiscal year 2026, ranking sixth nationally behind Amazon, TCS, Infosys, Apple and Microsoft.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley alongside Ranking Member Dick Durbin, had previously questioned Cognizant's hiring practices, according to Newsweek, and welcomed the suspension. The action fits into the Trump administration's broader "Project Firewall" enforcement push against H-1B abuse, launched in September 2025, and follows a July proposal to raise H-1B petition fees to $103,000, along with Senator Bernie Moreno's proposal for a 25% tax on certain visa-related payments, per LiveMint.

Labor Department figures also show Cognizant's H-1B reliance has fallen sharply: the company filed 3,436 Labor Condition Applications in 2025, down from 10,189 in 2018, according to CNBC-TV18 and Newsbytes App.

Cognizant's side

A day before the suspension was announced, Cognizant said it plans to hire 1,500 American college graduates and grow its "Frontier Certified Engineer" and "Frontier Business Operator" roles to 15,000 people, according to Outlook Business.

CEO Ravi Kumar S said the company is "hiring American graduates, standing up new American job categories for the AI era, and putting Cognizant's capital and leadership behind a national coalition built to make sure this transition works for workers." He said Cognizant believes AI will create more jobs than it displaces. The company also said it joined RAISE US, a bipartisan coalition on AI workforce transition, and that its Synapse training program has trained more than one million people, with a goal of two million by 2030.

Whether that announcement was a coincidence of timing or a preemptive response to the coming scrutiny is not established by any source.

What happens next

The suspension leaves open questions that only the Labor Department can answer: how many pending PERM cases are frozen, whether the probe expands to other major Indian IT firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro or HCL that also rely heavily on these programs, as Newsbytes App noted is a possibility, and whether the investigation produces charges or closes without action. Until the Department releases specifics, Cognizant employees mid-process for a green card are stuck waiting, with no timeline and no confirmed reason.