PERM filings suspended amid federal investigation; action does not amount to blanket ban on Cognizant H-1B visas

WASHINGTON (Nazrana Times | Monitoring Desk): The United States has stepped up scrutiny of employment-based immigration programmes, with technology services giant Cognizant facing a suspension of new PERM labour-certification filings amid a federal investigation into alleged fraud and misuse of employment-visa programmes.
The development marks another significant move in the Trump administration’s wider push for tougher enforcement of employment-based immigration rules. But the action against Cognizant needs to be understood carefully: it does not amount to a blanket suspension or cancellation of all H-1B visas connected with the company.
PERM, or Program Electronic Review Management, is the labour-certification process generally used by employers as part of sponsoring foreign workers for employment-based permanent residency, commonly known as a Green Card. It is separate from the H-1B temporary skilled-worker programme.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General has been investigating alleged fraud and abuse involving the H-1B and PERM systems as part of a broader federal enforcement effort. The inquiry has focused on allegations that some employers or labour intermediaries may have submitted fraudulent applications, exploited foreign workers or undermined employment opportunities and wages for American workers.
The suspension means Cognizant cannot move forward with new PERM filings while the relevant investigation continues. It does not, by itself, establish that the company committed fraud, nor does it automatically invalidate existing H-1B status held by its employees.

Indian technology professionals particularly exposed

The tougher approach has major implications for Indian professionals because India accounts for by far the largest share of approved H-1B beneficiaries.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data for fiscal year 2024, 283,755 approved H-1B beneficiaries were born in India, accounting for approximately 71% of the total. China ranked second with 46,722 beneficiaries, or about 11.7%.

These figures require some context. USCIS statistics concern approved petitions and beneficiaries; they should not automatically be interpreted as the number of people who physically entered the United States during the same year.

Different datasets covering visa issuances, admissions at U.S. ports of entry, approved petitions and changes or extensions of immigration status measure different things. For that reason, isolated figures circulating online cannot reliably be compared with annual USCIS beneficiary totals unless the underlying datasets and definitions are the same.

DHS proposes $103,265 fee for certain H-1B petitions

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has proposed a dramatic increase in the cost of filing certain H-1B petitions.

Under a proposed federal rule, DHS would impose an additional $103,265 fee on each cap-subject H-1B petition. The proposal applies specifically to petitions subject to the annual H-1B numerical cap, rather than every H-1B petition.

Crucially, the $103,265 charge has not yet taken effect. It remains a proposed rule and must go through the federal rulemaking process before becoming effective.

The proposal is also separate from the $100,000 payment requirement introduced under a September 2025 presidential proclamation. Implementation of that earlier requirement was later vacated by a federal district court, with the government appealing the decision.

The new DHS proposal itself acknowledges the distinction between the two measures.

Therefore, describing the current situation simply as a newly imposed “$200,000 H-1B fee” would be misleading. The officially documented new proposal is for an additional $103,265 fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions, and it is not yet in force.

Cognizant case part of wider immigration scrutiny

The scrutiny surrounding Cognizant comes against a much broader federal effort to investigate whether employment-based immigration programmes are being manipulated in ways that harm U.S. workers or violate labour and immigration requirements.

This makes distinctions between immigration programmes particularly important.

A Labour Condition Application associated with the H-1B programme, an H-1B petition filed with USCIS, an H-1B visa issued by a U.S. consulate, admission of a worker into the United States and a PERM labour-certification application are separate legal or administrative processes.

Statistics from these categories should therefore not be added together or directly compared without considering what each dataset actually measures.

Meanwhile, the PERM programme itself continues to operate nationally.

U.S. Department of Labor processing information updated through August 31, 2026, showed PERM applications with November 2025 priority dates undergoing analyst review. The department reported an average analyst-review processing time of 336 calendar days for determinations completed in August.

That data confirms that PERM processing has not been suspended across the United States; the action involving Cognizant concerns the company’s filings rather than the programme as a whole.

Tougher road ahead for foreign skilled workers

For Indian technology professionals, the combination of heightened investigations, stricter employer scrutiny and the possibility of substantially higher H-1B filing costs could reshape the traditional pathway from skilled employment to longer-term residence in the United States.

With Indians representing roughly seven out of every ten approved H-1B beneficiaries in FY2024, changes to the programme are likely to be felt particularly strongly within India’s technology workforce and among U.S. companies that rely heavily on international talent.

The United States remains a major destination for highly skilled professionals from around the world. But the latest developments point toward an employment-immigration environment defined increasingly by tougher enforcement, closer examination of employer practices and potentially much higher sponsorship costs.

Nazrana Times | Washington