The U.S. Department of Labor’s inspector general has suspended permanent labour certification filings for Cognizant and Cloudera while federal officials investigate alleged abuse of employment-based immigration programs.
Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced the Cognizant action on September 8, saying the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General was working with Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling and the White House Fraud Task Force. “Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated,” D’Esposito wrote on X, adding that investigators were following “facts, fraud and finances” and that “handcuffs await.”
D’Esposito later posted a second notice naming Cloudera: “One more. @cloudera: PERM filings SUSPENDED.” The material cited in reports did not identify criminal charges against either company, specify how many filings are affected, or say how long the suspensions will last.
PERM, formally Program Electronic Review Management, is usually the first Department of Labor step in an employer-sponsored green-card case. Employers use it to seek certification that there are not enough qualified, willing and available U.S. workers for a job, and that hiring a foreign worker would not hurt the wages or working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
The Hindu reported that the action applies to Cognizant and Cloudera’s permanent labour certification filings amid a visa-fraud investigation. Outlook India reported that the Cognizant suspension was announced through the Office of Inspector General rather than a separate DOL release, and said the case sits within a broader July inquiry into alleged H-1B and PERM fraud and abuse.
The suspension could complicate green-card planning for affected workers, especially where a new PERM application has not yet been filed. It does not, by itself, cancel an existing H-1B status, because H-1B temporary work authorization and PERM permanent-labour certification are separate parts of the U.S. immigration system.
Cognizant was founded in Chennai in 1994 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey. The company trades on Nasdaq under the ticker CTSH. USCIS data cited by India Today showed Cognizant’s H-1B approvals falling from 9,413 in 2020 to 3,510 as of June 30, 2026.
The action came shortly after Cognizant announced plans to hire 1,500 U.S. college graduates and expand AI-era workforce categories in the United States.
Sources: The Hindu, The Federal, Outlook India, India Today.
