US Freezes Cognizant’s Green Card Sponsorships Amid Expanding Visa Fraud Probe

WASHINGTON — The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has abruptly suspended all new PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) filings by Cognizant, effectively halting the IT services giant’s ability to sponsor employees for permanent residency.

This decisive administrative freeze comes as federal authorities intensify a sweeping investigation into alleged fraud and systemic abuse within the company’s H-1B and employment-based visa programs.
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The suspension is being spearheaded by the DOL’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which has flagged potential irregularities in how the multinational corporation processes labor certification petitions.

In a stark warning to the broader technology sector, the OIG publicly signaled its aggressive enforcement stance, declaring that the department is actively hunting for compliance violations in corporate visa sponsorship models.

This regulatory action is not an isolated event. Reports indicate that cloud computing firm Cloudera has faced similar filing suspensions, suggesting a coordinated, multi-agency crackdown on how major technology employers utilize and document foreign talent.

For years, large IT consulting firms have relied on a steady pipeline of H-1B workers transitioning to permanent residency to sustain their global delivery frameworks.
The immediate human cost of this freeze is profound. Thousands of Cognizant employees currently on temporary H-1B visas now find their critical pathway to a green card severed.
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If their temporary legal status expires before the investigation concludes or alternative sponsorship is secured, these workers and their families could face forced departure from the United States, upending established careers and lives.

From a corporate perspective, the suspension represents a severe operational and reputational blow. The PERM process is the foundational step for employment-based green cards, requiring employers to rigorously prove that no qualified US workers are available for the role.

A federal suspension strongly implies that investigators suspect the company may have bypassed these labor market tests or manipulated job descriptions to systematically favor foreign hires.

While Cognizant has yet to release a comprehensive public defense, the broader tech industry is already bracing for the fallout. This move signals a pivotal shift in US immigration enforcement, transitioning from reactive audits to proactive, punitive freezes.

As the OIG investigation deepens, it will likely establish a stricter precedent for corporate compliance, forcing the entire IT staffing sector to radically overhaul its visa practices or risk being locked out of the American talent market.