US suspends Cognizant, Cloudera green card filings amid visa fraud probe

Washington, September 9: The United States has suspended new permanent labour certification filings by Chennai-founded IT services company Cognizant and software firm Cloudera, as federal authorities investigate alleged fraud in employment visa programmes.

The US Department of Labor has not disclosed the specific allegations against either company. It has also not said how many applications are affected or how long the suspension will last.

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced the action on September 8. He said Cognizant’s PERM filings had been suspended and that the investigation was being conducted with the White House Fraud Task Force and other officials.

“Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated,” D’Esposito said in a statement shared on X. In a separate post, he said authorities were following “facts, fraud and finances”.

PERM, or Program Electronic Review Management, is the Labor Department process through which employers certify that they have tested the US labour market and found no sufficient qualified, willing and available American workers for a permanent position. It is part of the process for sponsoring foreign workers for employment-based green cards.

Before filing a PERM application, an employer must obtain a prevailing wage determination and complete recruitment and notice requirements

The suspension could affect foreign workers seeking permanent residency through Cognizant. The company received approval for 3,510 H-1B petitions as of June 30, 2026, according to USCIS data cited by The Indian Express and Deccan Herald.

Cognizant was founded in Chennai in 1994 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey. Cloudera was founded in California in 2008.

The broader investigation includes allegations involving fraudulent applications, exploitation of foreign workers and practices that could undercut American workers. The Labor Department has not publicly detailed the allegations against Cognizant or Cloudera.

The action follows a wider investigation launched by the Trump administration in July into alleged fraud and abuse in the H-1B and PERM programmes. Cognizant and Cloudera had not issued public statements when the reports were published.