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US Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said on social media platform X, “There will be zero tolerance for threats to American workers.” He said that the department is investigating the facts, alleged fraud and financial aspects in collaboration with the White House Fraud Task Force. He also said in his post that the culprits will be arrested.

Cognizant’s green card sponsorship banned?

The US Department of Labor has suspended the ability to apply for new green card sponsorship on behalf of Cognizant. This means that the company will not currently be able to make the necessary applications to start the employment-based green card process for new foreign employees. This action has taken place at a time when Cognizant is under investigation for alleged visa fraud.

Action taken against which other company?

Anthony D’Esposito said in a separate post that tech company Cloudera’s PERM filings have also been put on hold. PERM is an electronic process of the US Department of Labor, which is used to obtain Permanent Labor Certification for a foreign worker.

Permanent Labor Certification is the first step in the process of obtaining an employment-based green card. Through this, a company is allowed to start the further process to provide permanent employment to a foreign employee in America.

How was Cognizant started?

Cognizant was established in 1994 in Chennai. The company is now a large tech company headquartered in the US and is among the largest applicants for H-1B visas in corporate America. According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Cognizant has received approval of 3,510 H-1B visa petitions. In this matter it comes after Amazon, TCS, Infosys, Apple and Microsoft.

What is H-1B visa?

H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa, under which American companies can temporarily hire foreign workers to work in the US in certain sectors. According to the US Department of Labor, this visa allows foreign workers to be temporarily employed in specialized occupations. Apart from this, it also applies to fashion models with specific qualifications and abilities.

Under current law, a maximum of 65,000 eligible foreign workers can be granted H-1B visas or H-1B status each year. Apart from this, there is an additional visa exemption of Rs 20,000 for people with advanced degrees from American higher education institutions.

Trump administration had started Project Firewall

This action has taken place at a time when the Trump administration is tightening the H-1B visa program for foreign workers. In September last year, the Trump administration started “Project Firewall”. Its purpose was to target companies and employers who allegedly misuse the H-1B visa program.

According to the US Labor Department, under this program, attention is being given to those cases where rules are violated in the process of appointing foreign workers through H-1B visa.

Gave a strict message even on Labor Day

Before taking action against Cognizant and Cloudera, on September 7, on the occasion of America’s Labor Day, Anthony D’Esposito had posted a strict and mysterious message. He wrote on X that Labor Day honors the American workers who have built the country, not those who snatch their jobs through fraud. He further said that his resolve against such people has become stronger.

How much do you know about Cognizant?

• Cognizant was started in the 1990s. In 1996, Dun & Bradstreet separated several of its subsidiaries and formed a new company, named Cognizant Corporation. This included companies like Erisco, IMS International, Nielsen Media Research, Pilot Software, Strategic Technologies and DBSS. The headquarters of this new company was in Chennai, India.
• About three months later, in 1997, the name of DBSS was changed to Cognizant Technology Solutions. In July 1997, Dun & Bradstreet bought Satyam’s 24 percent stake in DBSS for $3.4 million. After this the company’s headquarters was shifted to America. In March 1998, Kumar Mahadeva was made the CEO of the company. At that time the company mainly worked in the field of Y2K projects and web development.
• In 1998, Cognizant Corporation was divided into two companies – IMS Health and Nielsen Media Research. After this Cognizant Technology Solutions became a public subsidiary of IMS Health. In June 1998, IMS Health separated some shares of Cognizant and brought the company’s IPO i.e. Initial Public Offering. After this, Cognizant’s shares became publicly available for trading.
• In 2003, IMS Health sold its entire 56 percent stake in Cognizant. After this, Cognizant implemented the ‘poison pill’ provision to protect the company from hostile takeover by another company. In the same year, Kumar Mahadeva resigned from the post of CEO and Lakshmi Narayanan was made the CEO in his place.
• After this Cognizant expanded its business. Along with IT services, the company also started working in services like Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Business Consulting. In 2006, Francisco D’Souza became the CEO of the company after Lakshmi Narayanan.
• In September 2014, Cognizant purchased healthcare IT services company TriZetto Corp for $2.7 billion. After this news, Cognizant shares increased by about 3 percent during pre-market trading.
• On June 24, 2015, Cognizant signed a multi-million dollar agreement with India’s Escorts Group. Its objective was to digitally transform the business of Escorts and modernize the operations to its different businesses. A few days later, on June 30, 2015, Cognizant partnered with Singapore’s supermarket company NTUC FairPrice. The objective of this partnership was to bring digital transformation to NTUC’s business and provide better and consistent services to customers across different channels.
• On April 1, 2019, Brian Humphries was appointed CEO of Cognizant, replacing Francisco D’Souza. In January 2022, Cognizant sold its company Oy Samlink to Kyndryl and Mustache to DJE Holdings.
• In 2023, Ravi Kumar S was made the CEO of Cognizant. After this, on April 22, 2024, Cognizant announced a partnership with Microsoft. The objective of this partnership was to increase the use of technologies like Generative AI and Copilot, improve employee experience and rapidly advance new innovations in different industries.