Last updated October 2026.
If you need sponsorship, every application to a company that will never file an H-1B is a tailored resume, a cover letter and 20 minutes of form-filling that could never lead to an offer. Most people find out at the final round, or never find out at all. The answer was usually public the whole time.
The US government publishes two free datasets that show which employers actually file H-1B petitions, for which job titles, in which cities and at what salary. Neither is pleasant to use, and almost nobody reads them before applying. Here's how to read them in 30 minutes and turn them into a shortlist you can trust.
Why "we sponsor visas" on a careers page tells you almost nothing
A careers page saying the company "supports visa sponsorship" is a policy statement, not evidence. It may be true for senior engineers and false for analysts. It may describe the company three reorganizations ago. Recruiters often don't know either, which is why the honest answer to "do you sponsor?" is frequently "it depends on the role."
Filings are evidence. A company that filed dozens of new H-1B petitions for data engineers in Austin last year will probably do it again. A company with zero filings in five years will not change its mind for you. The data won't guarantee an outcome, but it moves you from hoping to knowing roughly where you stand.
Read the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub like an analyst
The USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub lists employers that petitioned for H-1B workers, with USCIS's first decision on each petition, from fiscal year 2009 to the most recent quarter. You can filter by fiscal year, employer name, city, state, ZIP code and industry, and download the results as Excel or CSV.
Four habits make it useful instead of misleading:
- Search the legal entity, not the brand. Petitions are filed by the employing company, which is often a holding company or an "Inc.", "LLC" or "Services" entity you've never heard of. If the brand returns nothing, try variants and check the company's own legal footer.
- Look at three to five years, not one. A single year can be noise from one big project. A steady pattern across years is a hiring habit.
- Separate new hires from retention. Recent years break approvals into categories such as new employment, continuation, change of employer and amended petitions (USCIS explains the categories here). New employment and change of employer tell you whether the company brings in H-1B workers from outside. Continuation mostly tells you it keeps the ones it already has.
- Don't read the city as the job location. The hub's city and state are the employer's mailing address, not where the worker sits. A company headquartered in New Jersey may file most of its petitions for jobs in Texas.
The hub also leaves things out: pending cases, appeals and revocations aren't counted, and employers are identified only by the last four digits of their tax ID. It answers "does this company file?" well, and "for which roles?" not at all. That's what the second dataset is for.
Use DOL LCA data to see the roles, wages and cities
Before an employer can file an H-1B petition, it has to file a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with the Department of Labor. The DOL publishes these as quarterly and annual Excel files on its Office of Foreign Labor Certification performance data page, going back to fiscal year 2008. Each file comes with a record layout that explains every column.
LCA records show what the USCIS hub can't:
- Job title and occupation code. You can see whether the company files for "Data Analyst" or only for "Senior Software Engineer".
- Worksite. The city and state where the person will actually work.
- Offered wage and prevailing wage level. This tells you the salary band the company is used to sponsoring at.
Two cautions. An LCA isn't an approved petition (many never become one), and it isn't proof a role is open; plenty are filed for extensions and transfers of people already on staff. Use LCAs to check whether your kind of role shows up, then use the USCIS hub to confirm the company follows through.
Check the 2025–26 rule changes before you trust old patterns
Two changes since 2025 affect how much a company's history tells you about its future.
The lottery now favours higher wage levels. Under a final rule effective February 27, 2026 (USCIS), when the cap lottery is needed, each registration is entered once at wage level I, twice at level II, three times at level III and four times at level IV, based on the offered wage (USCIS cap season page). That makes the wage columns in LCA data more important than they used to be: a company that historically sponsors at level I is now sponsoring into worse odds.
The $100,000 payment, and why most F-1 students weren't its target. A September 2025 proclamation required a $100,000 payment with new H-1B petitions filed from September 21, 2025. USCIS's guidance says it doesn't apply to someone inside the US who is granted a change of status, such as from F-1 or OPT. It does apply if the change of status is refused, for example because the person leaves the US before it's decided (USCIS H-1B page). On June 8, 2026 a federal court vacated the guidance implementing the payment. The appeals court refused to pause that order on July 24, and DHS says it is complying while it considers next steps and would still collect the payment if the order is lifted (USCIS alert).
What this means for your search: some employers paused sponsorship in late 2025 out of caution, so a company's 2026 filings may look thinner than its real appetite. Weight the most recent year a little less than usual, and ask the recruiter directly.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm anything about your own status with your school's DSO or an immigration attorney.
The 30-minute sponsor shortlist
Open a spreadsheet with these columns: Company, Legal entity, New H-1B approvals (last 3 years), Roles like mine in LCA data, Typical wage level, Worksite cities, Verdict. Then:
- List 20–30 target companies (5 minutes). Use the ones you'd actually apply to, not a generic "top sponsors" list. Those lists are dominated by IT staffing firms and the largest tech companies.
- Run each through the USCIS hub (10 minutes). Note the legal entity and the new-employment approvals for the last three fiscal years. Zero for three years means drop.
- Spot-check roles in the LCA file (10 minutes). Open the latest annual LCA file, filter the employer column to the legal entity, and scan the job titles and worksites. If nobody with your title or occupation code appears, mark it long shot.
- Read the wage level (3 minutes). If the company mostly sponsors your role at level I, the weighted lottery is working against you there. Mark it lower odds, not drop.
- Write the verdict (2 minutes). Strong means recent new hires in your role and city. Possible means it sponsors, but not obviously your role. Drop means no filings.
Apply to Strong first and put real effort into those applications. Treat Possible as volume plays. Stop applying to Drop.
Where ProfVault fits
Once you have a shortlist, the work changes. For the Possible companies you want volume, and ProfVault's browser extension auto-fills applications on Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, Ashby and 100+ other systems for free, with no limit. It answers the work-authorization questions from your saved profile, the same way every time (see how to answer "Will you require sponsorship?"). For the Strong companies you want each application tailored. That's what the paid tools are for: new accounts get a 7-day Pro trial with 5 credits, enough for five resumes tailored to specific job posts, and the Job Sprint plan ($9.99 for a week) is built for an intense week of targeted applications. You can start free here. ProfVault doesn't look up sponsorship data for you; the 30 minutes above are still yours to spend.
Thirty minutes with two government spreadsheets saves you hundreds of applications to companies that were never going to say yes.
FAQ
Is the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub free?
Yes. It's a public USCIS tool with no account needed, and you can download any query as Excel or CSV.
If a company has H-1B approvals, will it sponsor me?
Not necessarily. Approvals show it has sponsored before, often for specific roles and seniority levels. Check the LCA data for your job title and ask the recruiter early.
Why can't I find a well-known company in the data?
You're probably searching the brand name. Petitions are filed by the legal employing entity, so try the name from the company's legal footer, and variants with "Inc.", "LLC" or "Services".
Do staffing and consulting firms count as sponsors?
They file a large share of all petitions, which is why they top every "top sponsors" list. Whether one is a good route for you depends on the firm. Judge it by its actual LCA roles and worksites, not its rank.
Does the $100,000 H-1B payment apply to F-1 students on OPT?
Under USCIS guidance it doesn't apply when a change of status from inside the US is granted, and a court vacated the implementing guidance in June 2026. The situation is still in litigation, so confirm with your DSO or an immigration attorney.
How often is the data updated?
The USCIS hub and the DOL LCA files are both updated quarterly, so the current fiscal year is always incomplete. Read the latest year as a partial picture.
Related reading
- How to answer "Will you now or in the future require sponsorship?"
- The one-week job sprint: 50 tailored applications in 7 days
- How to Beat ATS in 2026: A Job Seeker's Complete Guide
Ready to stop retyping your resume into every job application? Install the ProfVault Chrome extension (free) and auto-fill any ATS in one click.