Cognizant Caught In Crosshairs As US Freezes Its Green Card Filings

The US Department of Labour has suspended technology services company Cognizant's filings under the Permanent Labour Certification programme, known as PERM, as federal authorities investigate alleged fraud and possible harm to American workers. The programme is a key step for employers seeking employment-based green cards for foreign workers.

Labour Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito announced the suspension in a social media post. "Cognizant's PERM filings are suspended," he said, adding that his office was working alongside the White House anti-fraud task force. "Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated. Alongside @WHFraudTF, we're following facts, fraud and finances. Handcuffs await," he said.

D'Esposito did not disclose the specific allegations against Cognizant, the number of applications affected or how long the suspension would remain in place. He separately announced that PERM filings by Cloudera had also been suspended, posting "One more. @cloudera: PERM filings SUSPENDED." Neither company has been named in any criminal charges, and the material released by the inspector general did not include a response from either Cognizant or Cloudera.

Suspension Follows Hiring Announcement

The suspension came a day after Cognizant announced plans to expand its US workforce, including hiring 1,500 American college graduates and growing its Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator roles to 15,000 people.

"We are 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," said Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S. He added that the company believes artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it displaces and shift greater value, wages and accountability to American workers on the frontlines.

Cognizant also said it had joined RAISE US, a bipartisan coalition working to help American workers transition into the AI economy. The company's Synapse training programme has trained more than one million people so far and aims to reach two million by 2030.

What PERM Certification Involves

Under the PERM programme, the Labour Department must certify that qualified US workers are not available for a given position and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of similarly employed American workers. PERM certification is tied to permanent employment and employment-based green cards, and is separate from the H-1B programme, which allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign professionals for specialised occupations. A suspension of PERM filings does not by itself mean a company's H-1B petitions have also been suspended.

Cognizant is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, and is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CTSH, though the company was originally founded in Chennai, India, in 1994 and continues to maintain a large workforce and operations there. It remains one of the largest petitioners for H-1B visas among US corporations. According to data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Cognizant received 3,510 approved H-1B visa petitions in fiscal year 2026, placing it sixth in the country behind Amazon, TCS, Infosys, Apple and Microsoft.

D'Esposito had hinted at possible regulatory action against Cognizant months earlier, responding on social media to posts alleging visa abuse by the company and asking users to "stay tuned." The suspension follows the Trump administration's broader enforcement push against visa abuse, including "Project Firewall," an initiative targeting employers accused of misusing the H-1B programme, launched in September last year.