New York : Filings Over Alleged Visa Abuse PERM certification is associated with permanent employment and employment-based green cards. It is separate from the H-1B programme, which permits eligible US employers to hire foreign professionals temporarily for speciality occupations.

Washington: The Trump administration in the United States has
suspended India-founded and US-listed tech giant Cognizant's ability
to apply for new green card sponsorship, labelling it as a "threat to
American workers." The US Department of Labour suspended permanent
labour certification filings by Cognizant over alleged fraud.

The move will impact the company's filings under the Permanent Labour
Certification programme (PERM), a key step for employers seeking
employment-based green cards for foreign workers.

"Cognizant's PERM filings are suspended," Labour Department Inspector
General Anthony D'Esposito said in a post on X.

"Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated. Alongside the
White House Task Force to eliminate fraud, we're following facts,
fraud, and finances. Handcuffs await," he said.

Under the PERM programme, the Labour Department must certify that
qualified US workers are not available for a position and that hiring
a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working
conditions of similarly employed American workers.

PERM certification is associated with permanent employment and
employment-based green cards. It is separate from the H-1B programme,
which permits eligible US employers to hire foreign professionals
temporarily for speciality occupations. Suspension of PERM filings
does not, by itself, establish that a company's H-1B petitions have
also been suspended.

D'Esposito separately announced that PERM filings by US-based software
giant Cloudera had also been suspended.

"One more. @cloudera: PERM filings SUSPENDED," he said.

The material released by the inspector general did not identify any
criminal charges against either company.

Team Trump official did not disclose the specific allegations or
criminal charges against either Cognizant or Cloudera, the number of
applications affected or how long the suspension would remain in
force.

It also did not include a response from either of the two companies.

Founded in Chennai, India, in 1994, Cognizant is a US-based
multinational company headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, and listed
on Nasdaq under the ticker CTSH and retains a major workforce and
operational presence in America.

The action came a day after Cognizant announced plans to expand its
American workforce. The company said it planned to hire 1,500 US
college graduates and increase its Frontier Certified Engineer and
Frontier Business Operator workforce 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," Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Ravi
Kumar S said.

"We believe AI will create significantly more jobs than it displaces
and shift greater value, wages and accountability to the frontlines of
America's workforce," Kumar said.

Cognizant also said it had joined RAISE US, a bipartisan coalition
focused on helping American workers move into the artificial
intelligence economy. The company's Synapse programme has trained more
than one million people and now aims to reach two million by 2030.