The U.S. Department of Labor has suspended Cognizant’s PERM filings as federal authorities investigate potential fraud and misuse involving employment-based immigration programs.
Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced the action on September 8, 2026, saying that Cognizant’s PERM filings had been suspended and that the investigation involves the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the White House Fraud Task Force. Cloudera was also identified as being under PERM suspension.
For foreign professionals working at these companies—or F-1 students on OPT or STEM OPT who expected their employer to begin a green card case—the most important issue is what the suspension actually covers. At this point, the government has not publicly disclosed the duration or complete scope of the Cognizant suspension, how many workers are affected, or what will happen to every pending PERM case.
PERM, formally the Permanent Labor Certification process, is commonly the first major government step in an employer-sponsored green card case.
The Department of Labor requires an employer to demonstrate, among other requirements, that there are not sufficient able, willing, qualified and available U.S. workers for the permanent position and that hiring the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The employer—not the foreign employee—files the PERM application.
Once DOL certifies a PERM application, the employer generally uses that certification to file Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, with USCIS. DOL also explains that the PERM filing date is generally used as the worker's priority date, an important factor in employment-based green card waiting times.
USCIS requires an I-140 based on an approved labor certification to be filed during the labor certification's 180-day validity period.
The Cognizant suspension therefore directly affects the employer-sponsored permanent-residence process rather than functioning as a general suspension of all U.S. immigration benefits for Cognizant employees.
The announced action concerns PERM labor certification. It should not be interpreted as an automatic cancellation of an employee's H-1B status or a student's F-1, OPT or STEM OPT authorization.
PERM and temporary immigration status are different parts of the U.S. immigration system.
However, the suspension can still be significant for H-1B workers and international graduates who expected Cognizant to sponsor them for permanent residence.
For example, an employee may currently be working legally in H-1B status while simultaneously relying on the employer to begin or continue an employment-based green card process. An F-1 graduate working through OPT or STEM OPT may similarly be planning a longer-term transition through H-1B status and eventually employer-sponsored permanent residence.
If Cognizant cannot submit a new PERM application for that employee, the green card timeline could be delayed. Because the PERM filing date generally establishes the priority date for cases that require labor certification, a delay in filing can be particularly important for workers from countries with long employment-based visa backlogs.
Importantly, there has been no publicly disclosed Cognizant-specific announcement establishing that every existing PERM application has been denied or permanently canceled. Workers with cases already in progress should therefore distinguish between confirmed government action and assumptions about what the suspension may ultimately mean for their individual cases.
Although recent reports have discussed Cognizant and Cloudera together, Cloudera's PERM enforcement action is not entirely new.
On May 12, 2026, the Department of Labor officially announced that the Office of Foreign Labor Certification had suspended processing of all permanent labor certification applications filed by or on behalf of Cloudera for 180 days. DOL also said the suspension could be extended depending on the outcome of a Department of Justice investigation.
According to that official announcement, the action followed allegations from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division that Cloudera had used a recruitment process that prevented qualified U.S. workers from applying for certain technology positions while representing to DOL that qualified U.S. workers were unavailable. Those remain allegations connected to government enforcement proceedings.
The situation with Cognizant is less clearly defined publicly. As of September 10, the government has not released comparable detailed terms explaining how long Cognizant's suspension will last or precisely how previously filed cases will be handled.
For employees already in the employment-based green card process, the key question is the stage of their individual case.
Someone whose employer had not yet filed PERM faces a different situation from someone with a PERM already pending, an approved labor certification, or an I-140 already filed with USCIS.
Workers should obtain the exact status of their case from their employer's immigration team or attorney rather than assuming that the suspension has canceled their entire green card process.
The most important developments to watch are whether DOL publishes a formal Cognizant enforcement notice, whether the agency specifies the duration and scope of the suspension, and whether additional action is announced involving existing PERM applications or other employment-based immigration programs.
Until those details are released, the confirmed development is narrower: Cognizant's PERM filings have been suspended, while significant questions about the treatment of individual pending cases remain unresolved.