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Public data report · quarterly

Who sponsors US work visas

Edition FY2026 Q3 · Department of Labor data through June 2026 · refreshed each quarter · cite this edition

H-1B and green-card filings with the Department of Labor since fiscal year 2020, for all US employers and for the Fortune 500, the S&P 500 and the world’s unicorns. In FY25 (Oct 2024–Sep 2025) employers filed 594,821 H-1B applications, 6% more than the year before.

595kH-1B applications, FY25
25.1%Filed by the Fortune 500
+26%Fortune 500 wage vs all employers
-23%S&P 500 green cards vs FY23

1. H-1B and green-card demand, all employers

Filings each fiscal year (October to September). An H-1B application (LCA) is the first step of a petition, not a visa; a PERM labor certification is the first step of an employer-sponsored green card. Each chart has its own scale. * FY26 is the year to date, through June 2026.

H-1B applications

Green-card certifications (PERM)

2. A quarter of it is the Fortune 500

Share of all H-1B applications filed by each list. The two lists overlap; a company in both counts in both.

21.2%23.7%26.1%28.6%FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*Fortune 500, FY20: 23.6%Fortune 500, FY21: 23.6%Fortune 500, FY22: 26.0%Fortune 500, FY23: 24.0%Fortune 500, FY24: 24.5%Fortune 500, FY25: 25.1%Fortune 500, FY26: 25.3%S&P 500, FY20: 25.1%S&P 500, FY21: 24.9%S&P 500, FY22: 27.0%S&P 500, FY23: 25.1%S&P 500, FY24: 25.5%S&P 500, FY25: 26.0%S&P 500, FY26: 26.1%S&P 500 26.1%Fortune 500 25.3%
  • S&P 500 26.1%
  • Fortune 500 25.3%

The unicorns, for all the attention they get, filed 0.3% of applications in FY25, fewer than Amazon alone.

3. The largest companies pulled back on green cards

PERM labor certifications, the first step of an employer-sponsored green card, by fiscal year. Each chart has its own scale.

All employers

Fortune 500

S&P 500

Unicorns

S&P 500 green-card certifications in FY25 were 23% below their FY23 peak; across all employers they were 26% above the same year.

4. Big companies offer more, unicorns the most

Typical offered annual wage on certified H-1B applications. All employers: the median of every application. A group: its companies’ medians, weighted by applications.

$87k$124k$161k$198kFY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*All employers, FY20: $97kAll employers, FY21: $102kAll employers, FY22: $108kAll employers, FY23: $110kAll employers, FY24: $114kAll employers, FY25: $120kAll employers, FY26: $127kFortune 500, FY20: $119kFortune 500, FY21: $127kFortune 500, FY22: $135kFortune 500, FY23: $139kFortune 500, FY24: $146kFortune 500, FY25: $152kFortune 500, FY26: $159kS&P 500, FY20: $118kS&P 500, FY21: $126kS&P 500, FY22: $135kS&P 500, FY23: $139kS&P 500, FY24: $146kS&P 500, FY25: $151kS&P 500, FY26: $159kUnicorns, FY20: $129kUnicorns, FY21: $144kUnicorns, FY22: $158kUnicorns, FY23: $163kUnicorns, FY24: $172kUnicorns, FY25: $186kUnicorns, FY26: $185kUnicorns $185kFortune 500 $159kS&P 500 $159kAll employers $127k
  • Unicorns $185k
  • Fortune 500 $159k
  • S&P 500 $159k
  • All employers $127k

The largest sponsors

H-1B applications filed in FY25, with the change from FY24 and the typical offered wage.

  1. 1AmazonFortune #123,222 +7%$153k typical wage
  2. 2CognizantFortune #21611,192 -3%$110k typical wage
  3. 3MicrosoftFortune #119,302 -2%$171k typical wage
  4. 4Alphabet Inc.Fortune #59,236 -2%$184k typical wage
  5. 5Apple Inc.Fortune #47,086 +85%$174k typical wage
  6. 6Meta PlatformsFortune #176,635 +8%$203k typical wage
  7. 7WalmartFortune #24,145 +5%$145k typical wage
  8. 8JPMorgan ChaseFortune #123,534 0%$155k typical wage
  9. 9IBMFortune #663,082 -15%$119k typical wage
  10. 10Tesla, Inc.Fortune #432,895 +29%$150k typical wage

Showing the top 10. Sign in to see the top 25 of every group, and every company’s visa history on its profile.

Biggest changes among the Fortune 500 and S&P 500

Change in H-1B applications, FY24 to FY25, for companies with at least 300 in either year.

Filed more

  1. Apple Inc.+3,260 +85%
  2. Amazon+1,568 +7%
  3. Tesla, Inc.+653 +29%
  4. Citigroup+542 +52%
  5. Nvidia+529 +39%
  6. Meta Platforms+498 +8%
  7. Oracle Corporation+427 +47%
  8. Capital One+407 +56%
  9. CVS Health+383 +47%
  10. Goldman Sachs+342 +17%

Filed less

  1. Intel-952 -25%
  2. IBM-545 -15%
  3. Salesforce-423 -18%
  4. Accenture-422 -13%
  5. eBay Inc.-322 -35%
  6. Cognizant-307 -3%
  7. Western Digital-306 -57%
  8. Microsoft-190 -2%
  9. Alphabet Inc.-144 -2%
  10. Elevance Health-135 -21%

Roles and places, FY26 to date vs FY25

Each occupation’s and state’s share of the year’s filings, with the change in share from FY25 in percentage points. Shares rather than counts, so a year still in progress compares fairly with a full one.

H-1B

Most sponsored occupations

  1. Software Developers27.4%-1.5 ptsFY25 28.9% · $145k median
  2. Data Scientists4.2%+1.1 ptsFY25 3.1% · $130k median
  3. Information Technology Project Managers3.1%-0.2 ptsFY25 3.3% · $139k median
  4. Computer Systems Engineers/Architects3.0%-1.2 ptsFY25 4.2% · $108k median
  5. Software Quality Assurance Analysts And Testers2.9%-0.2 ptsFY25 3.1% · $109k median
  6. Computer Programmers2.4%+0.1 ptsFY25 2.3% · $95k median
  7. Computer And Information Systems Managers1.9%-0.2 ptsFY25 2.2% · $209k median
  8. Business Intelligence Analysts1.8%-0.3 ptsFY25 2.1% · $119k median
  9. Computer Systems Analysts1.8%-0.4 ptsFY25 2.2% · $110k median
  10. Financial And Investment Analysts1.7%+0.3 ptsFY25 1.4% · $147k median

Worksite states

  1. CA18.1%+0.8 ptsFY25 17.3%
  2. TX13.4%-0.7 ptsFY25 14.2%
  3. NY8.4%+0.6 ptsFY25 7.7%
  4. WA6.2%+0.4 ptsFY25 5.8%
  5. NJ4.0%-0.5 ptsFY25 4.6%
  6. IL3.8%-0.1 ptsFY25 3.9%
  7. NC3.4%-0.1 ptsFY25 3.5%
  8. GA3.3%-0.2 ptsFY25 3.5%
  9. MA3.2%-0.1 ptsFY25 3.3%
  10. FL3.0%-0.1 ptsFY25 3.1%

Green cards

Most sponsored occupations

  1. Software Developers20.9%-0.4 ptsFY25 21.3% · $142k median
  2. Computer Systems Analysts4.1%-0.2 ptsFY25 4.3% · $131k median
  3. Fast Food And Counter Workers2.5%-0.2 ptsFY25 2.7% · $25k median
  4. Project Management Specialists2.3%-0.1 ptsFY25 2.4% · $134k median
  5. Data Scientists2.3%+0.5 ptsFY25 1.8% · $136k median
  6. Meat, Poultry, And Fish Cutters And Trimmers2.0%-2.2 ptsFY25 4.2% · $26k median
  7. Medical And Clinical Laboratory Technologists1.8%+0.3 ptsFY25 1.5% · $57k median
  8. Software Quality Assurance Analysts And Testers1.6%-0.1 ptsFY25 1.8% · $122k median
  9. Landscaping And Groundskeeping Workers1.4%-0.3 ptsFY25 1.7% · $35k median
  10. Accountants And Auditors1.4%+0.1 ptsFY25 1.2% · $91k median

Worksite states

  1. CA15.8%-0.7 ptsFY25 16.6%
  2. TX9.4%-0.2 ptsFY25 9.6%
  3. NY6.7%+0.3 ptsFY25 6.4%
  4. GA4.8%-2.2 ptsFY25 7.0%
  5. NJ4.7%+0.2 ptsFY25 4.5%
  6. FL4.5%+0.2 ptsFY25 4.3%
  7. IL3.8%FY25 3.8%
  8. WA3.2%-0.5 ptsFY25 3.7%
  9. MA3.0%-0.1 ptsFY25 3.1%
  10. VA2.7%+0.3 ptsFY25 2.4%

Data Scientists rose from 3.1% to 4.2% of H-1B applications. Meat, Poultry, And Fish Cutters And Trimmers fell from 4.2% to 2.0% of green-card certifications.

See every company's visa history

  • H-1B and green-card filings for each company since FY2020, on its profile
  • Offered wages against all employers, and the roles each company sponsors
  • The top 25 of every list in this report, and the legal entities each company files under
See plans

Past editions

Each quarter is kept at its own address, so a number you quote does not change under the link.

FY2026 Q3this edition

How the report is built

Source

The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification disclosure files: every Labor Condition Application (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3) and every PERM application, FY2020 to FY26. Each case is counted once, under its latest status. A fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September; the latest is the year to date through June 2026.

What a filing is

  • An H-1B application is filed before a petition and certified almost always. It measures demand, not visas issued: the annual lottery decides those.
  • A PERM certification is the first step of an employment-based green card.
  • Wages are the offered annual wage on certified applications, hourly and weekly rates annualised.

Which company a filing belongs to

Employers file under legal entities: Amazon files as Amazon.com Services, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Development Center and more. For the Fortune 500 and the S&P 500 a company counts the entities on its own records and those whose name carries its name or a known brand (Optum for UnitedHealth, Citibank for Citigroup), each one confirmed by a check that rejects namesakes such as a university sharing a word of the name. A subsidiary filing under a name we cannot connect is not counted, so group figures are, if anything, low.

The groups

The Fortune 500 and the S&P 500 are the lists behind our hiring trackers. Unicorns are private companies whose latest valuation from a priced round is $1 billion or more, from our unicorn list. Every year is counted against today’s lists.

Quoting these figures

Free to quote, chart and report on, with attribution: Source: Xcout Intel Visa sponsors report (intel.xcout.app/insights/visa-sponsors). Reproducing a chart or table needs a link back to this page. Full terms are on the attribution page.

Writing about this? We will confirm a figure before you publish and can send the cut behind any number here, by company, country or sector: hello@intel.xcout.app.