India, Sept. 9 -- The United States has suspended new permanent labour certification filings by Chennai-founded IT services company Cognizant and software firm Cloudera, as federal authorities investigate alleged fraud in employment visa programmes.

The US Department of Labor has not disclosed the specific allegations against either company. It has also not said how many applications are affected or how long the suspension will last.

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito announced the action on September 8. He said Cognizant's PERM filings had been suspended and that the investigation was being conducted with the White House Fraud Task Force and other officials.

"Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated," D'Esp...