Which company sponsors the most H1Bs for software engineers?

Amazon files the most by raw petition count, followed by Google, Microsoft, Meta, and the major IT consulting firms (Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, Accenture). Of those, the big tech companies sponsor for SWE roles specifically; the consulting firms sponsor across a wider role range that includes SWE.

Do startups sponsor H1B?

Some yes, most no. The rule of thumb is series-B and later for sponsorship at any volume; pre-series-A startups rarely have the legal infrastructure or willingness for the process. Mid-size unicorns (Stripe, Databricks, Snowflake, Notion, Figma, Vercel) are reliable sponsors. Smaller series-B companies are case-by-case.

Can I ask about H1B sponsorship in the first interview?

In the recruiter screen, yes, and you should. Frame it as logistics: "I want to flag that I'd need H1B sponsorship now or in the near future, is that something the company can support for this role?" This saves both sides hours when the answer is no, and signals professionalism when the answer is yes.

What if a company says they "don't usually" sponsor?

Treat it as "no" for application-strategy purposes. "Don't usually" almost always means the bar is "exceptional senior candidate, exceptional reason"; you'll burn time hoping to be the exception. Spend that application time on companies that say yes.

How long does H1B sponsorship take after offer?

For cap-subject employers, you'll be in the H1B lottery in March of the year before your start. Cap-exempt employers (universities, research institutions, some non-profits) can sponsor outside the lottery, which is usually faster. The whole process from offer to H1B start can take 6 to 14 months.

Top H1B Sponsorship Companies for Software Engineers (2026)

H1B sponsorship is the deciding question that doesn't show up on most job posts. Most US roles are off the table; the ones that aren't are spread unevenly across companies and change year to year. Here's a current list of reliable H1B sponsors for software engineers in 2026, plus the tier-2 companies that are easier to find a slot at.

How H1B sponsorship actually works

H1B is a US non-immigrant work visa with an annual cap of 65,000 plus 20,000 for US master's holders. The cap is hit every year, so most cap-subject employers go through the March lottery; if you're not selected, you don't get to start work on H1B that year. Sponsorship costs the employer legal fees (usually $5K-$10K all-in) plus the operational overhead of attorneys and timing. Employers willing to do this consistently are the targets of an H1B-aware job search.

The data source

USCIS publishes annual H1B petition data by employer in the Employer Data Hub. Third-party sites like myvisajobs.com and h1bdata.info make it searchable. The lists below are compiled from the most recent publicly available data, and we update this post annually. Treat exact petition counts as ±15% accurate; treat the rankings and tier groupings as reliable.

Top H1B sponsors for software engineers (2026)

These companies consistently file the most H1B petitions for SWE-titled roles. If you need sponsorship, your shortlist starts here:

Amazon: Largest single sponsor by volume across all tech roles. SWE-specific sponsorship is large and reliable.
Google: Reliable sponsor at all levels (intern through staff).
Microsoft: Reliable sponsor at all levels, including for the Microsoft Explore freshman/sophomore program.
Meta: Reliable sponsor; the recovery from 2022-2023 layoff freeze is essentially complete.
Apple: Sponsors, but with more selectivity than the others in this tier.
Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro: IT consulting giants. Highest H1B volume of any employers; the work and pay are different from the tech-company experience, but the sponsorship willingness is unquestioned.
Accenture, Deloitte (tech tracks): Similar profile to the IT consulting giants.

Tier 2: mid-size and growth-stage companies that sponsor

Less famous than FAANG but reliable sponsors, and often less competitive. These are worth a focused list:

Stripe: Heavy SWE sponsorship.
Databricks, Snowflake: Reliable sponsors, especially for data-engineering roles.
Salesforce, Adobe: Long-standing sponsors at all levels.
Capital One, Bloomberg, JPMorgan (tech roles): Financial services with significant tech-track H1B sponsorship.
Nvidia, AMD, Intel: Hardware and adjacent SWE roles, reliable sponsors.
Workday, ServiceNow, Atlassian: Enterprise SaaS, reliable sponsors.
Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Airbnb: Sponsor, with some variation year to year.
OpenAI, Anthropic: Sponsor for ML and engineering roles.
Notion, Figma, Vercel, Linear, Retool: Smaller programs, do sponsor for senior roles, less consistent for entry-level.

Companies that don't sponsor (or stopped recently)

Save time by skipping these for sponsored-job purposes. The list isn't exhaustive but includes the common ones job-seekers ask about:

Most series-A and earlier startups (operational overhead too high for early stage)
Most boutique consulting firms outside the big four
Most government contractors (citizenship requirements compound with security clearance)
Many financial services firms that aren't the named ones above

Application strategy: how many to apply to, how to ask

Realistic application volume for an H1B-needing SWE search is 200 to 500 roles over an active search. The high end is for OPT candidates with hard end-dates; the low end is for already-on-H1B candidates with more time. The math is volume-driven because the funnel narrows in three places: companies that sponsor, roles where you meet the bar, and applications that convert to interviews.

The single highest-leverage tactical move: ask about sponsorship in the recruiter screen, not after the technical round. A polite "I want to flag that I'd need H1B sponsorship for this role, is that something the company can support?" saves you 4 to 8 hours per company that ultimately can't sponsor.

Filling 200+ applications without losing your mind

At 5 to 10 minutes per Greenhouse or Workday form manually, 200 applications is 16 to 33 hours of pure typing. Lentra fills the form in about 20 seconds, including the sponsorship question (set your work-authorization answer once in your profile and every form gets it). Free, no quota meter, built for exactly this volume problem.

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