Top U.S. Technology Companies Dominate H-1B Visa List In 2025

People are reflected in the window of the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square on July 30, 2018 in New York City. With sizable investments at stake in artificial intelligence, America’s leading technology companies are snapping up foreign-born talent. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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With sizable investments at stake in artificial intelligence, America’s leading technology companies are snapping up foreign-born talent. According to a new analysis of government data, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Google had the most approved new H-1B petitions in FY 2025, and Apple was number 6. At the same time, Indian-based companies have almost disappeared from the top rankings, with their numbers plummeting. Only three Indian companies were among the top 25 employers of new H-1B visa holders in FY 2025.

The latest H-1B numbers predate the Trump administration’s most restrictive immigration measures against employers of high-skilled foreign nationals. Those measures include imposing a $100,000 fee on the entry of new H-1B visa holders, conducting Department of Labor investigations under Operation Firewall and implementing upcoming rules expected to limit who qualifies for H-1B status and raise the required prevailing wage. Next year’s list of top H-1B employers could see additional changes.

H-1B temporary visas are often the only way for high-skilled foreign nationals to work in the United States long term. When companies recruit at U.S. universities, they find that international students account for approximately 70% of full-time graduate students in AI-related fields, such as computer and information sciences. The H-1B annual limit is 65,000, with an exemption of 20,000 for individuals with master’s degrees or higher from a U.S. university, or about 0.05% of the U.S. labor force. In addition to government fees that can exceed $6,000, employers must pay the higher of the actual or prevailing wage paid to U.S. professionals with similar experience and qualifications.

Top U.S. Tech Companies Up, While Indian-Based Companies’ Use Of H-1B Visas Plummets

In FY 2025, Amazon had the most H-1B petitions for initial employment approved with 4,644, followed by Meta Platforms (1,555), Microsoft (1,394) and Google (1,050), according to a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis of USCIS data. The report found this was the first time the four U.S. technology companies held the top four spots for approvals of new H-1B petitions. H-1B petitions for initial employment are primarily for new employment, which, for companies, are cases that usually count against the H-1B annual limit. (A small number of cases were for concurrent employment, i.e., jobs with a second employer.) NFAP analyzed data from the H-1B Employer Data Hub, separately calculated company totals for initial and continuing employment and identified affiliates when possible. USCIS records cases in the fiscal year approved, not by the cap year or when they were filed.

Companies are hiring talent to complement spending on AI and related capital expenditures. “Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon each lifted their guidance for capital expenditures and now collectively expect that number to reach more than $380 billion this year,” reports CNBC. (Alphabet is the parent company of Google.) With this level of spending, analysts note it would be difficult to argue that these companies are hiring H-1B visa holders to save money, particularly given immigration law and the costs of H-1B legal and government fees.

“The latest data indicate a shift has occurred: Only three Indian-based companies in FY 2025 were among the top 25 employers with approved H-1B petitions for initial employment,” according to the NFAP analysis. “In FY 2025, the top seven Indian-based companies had only 4,573 H-1B petitions approved for initial employment, a 70% drop from FY 2015 and 37% fewer than in FY 2024.” (The three Indian-based companies are TCS at 5, LTIMindtree at 20, and HCL America at 21.) Increased hiring of U.S. workers by Indian-based companies, changes in technology and the ability to perform work outside the United States reduced the demand for new H-1B visa holders, according to experts.

The new numbers carry implications for the broader H-1B policy debate. The NFAP study notes, “For years, critics have complained about ‘outsourcing’ companies receiving H-1B visas, arguing against H-1B visas being used by companies that provide information technology services. Given the FY 2025 H-1B numbers, H-1B critics will likely need a new argument.”

H-1B petitions for continuing employment include extensions of stay with the same employer, amended petitions (i.e., a significant change in job responsibilities or location) and a change of employer. In FY 2025, Amazon had the most approved H-1B petitions for continuing employment, with 14,532, followed by TCS (5,293), Microsoft (4,863), Meta Platforms (4,740), Apple (4,610) and Google (4,509). The study notes that these numbers do not reflect individual employees, since an H-1B visa holder may be approved several times for continuing employment in the same year if they change locations.

Productivity growth is essential for economic growth and higher living standards for Americans. Research by economists Giovanni Peri, Kevin Shih and Chad Sparber concluded that foreign-born STEM professionals accounted for 30% to 50% of the aggregate productivity growth in the United States between 1990 and 2010, and their increased presence in a city raised “the wage growth of native college-educated labor by about 7 to 8 percentage points.” Approximately 700,000 people live and work in the U.S. in H-1B status, according to an NFAP analysis.

George Mason University economics professor Michael Clemens argues it is illegitimate for critics to claim, as they often do, that H-1B visa holders are underpaid by comparing the salaries of new entrants to the labor market to those of individuals with a decade or more experience. “That reasoning would not pass muster in even an introductory economics course,” he writes. “It is similar to the wage gap we should expect between all entry-level wages and all average wages—for all kinds of workers, in every firm, in every country, in all of modern history.”

A Low Annual Limit On H-1B Visas

Analysts note the primary drawback of the H-1B visa category is not the distribution among companies, as some argue, but the low annual limit of 85,000, which has been exhausted every year for more than two decades (since FY 2004). H-1B registrations are selected by lottery when demand exceeds supply. In FY 2025, employers entered approximately 442,000 unique beneficiaries into the H-1B registration process, which means that USCIS rejected more than 300,000 H-1B beneficiaries due to the 85,000 annual limit.

A Wide Variety Of Employers Use H-1B Visas

A surprisingly large number of employers use H-1B visas, primarily because it is generally the only way to hire a high-skilled foreign national to work in the United States. In FY 2025, USCIS approved 28,277 different employers for at least one new H-1B petition. More than 50% of new H-1B petitions went to employers with 15 or fewer approvals, and 72% were used by employers with 100 or fewer approvals. Ninety-five percent of employers were approved for ten or fewer H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2025.

While some believe H-1B visa holders cannot change jobs, government data show that is not the case. More than 68,000 H-1B petitions were approved for individuals to change to new employers in FY 2025.

The top states for the most approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2025 were California (21,559), Texas (12,613), New York (11,436), New Jersey (7,729) and Virginia (7,579). The top cities for new H-1B petitions: New York (7,811), Arlington, VA (4,836), Chicago (2,923), San Jose (2,383), Santa Clara (2,286) and San Francisco (2,222). The top industry types for approved new H-1B petitions in FY 2025 were professional, scientific and technical services, educational services, manufacturing, information, healthcare and social assistance and finance and insurance.

High H-1B Salaries And Education Levels

While it is common for critics to call H-1B visa holders “cheap labor,” government data tell a different story. The average annual salary for an H-1B visa holder in computer-related occupations in FY 2024 was $136,000, and the median salary was $125,000, according to USCIS. Education levels are also high. In FY 2024, 63% of approved H-1B beneficiaries earned a master’s degree or higher, according to USCIS. Critics say H-1B visa holders enter at or near “entry-level salaries.” However, immigration attorneys explain that is simply the wage level listed on a government scale when compared to the most experienced professionals, not a reflection of talent or potential. Every “rookie of the year” award winner in professional sports is paid an “entry-level” salary.

H-1B Visa Denial Rates Remain Low For Now

The denial rate for H-1B petitions for initial employment reached 24% in FY 2018 in Donald Trump’s first term. Courts later invalidated the restrictive policies that led to the high denial rates, which resulted in a legal settlement that returned denial rates to pre-Trump levels.

The denial rate for H-1B petitions for initial employment increased to 2.8% in FY 2025 from 2.5% in FY 2024. That remains lower than the 3.5% rate in FY 2023. There were 114,806 approvals for initial employment in FY 2025, which include new and concurrent employment (when an H-1B visa holder works for a second employer concurrently).

The denial rate for H-1B petitions for “continuing” employment (primarily for existing employees) also remained low at 1.9% in FY 2025. That denial rate for H-1B petitions for continuing employment reached 12% rate in FY 2018 and FY 2019 in Donald Trump’s first term. There were 291,542 approvals for H-1B petitions for continuing employment in FY 2025.

Not A Fixed Number Of Jobs As The H-1B Visa Debate Continues

Much of the debate over H-1B visa holders assumes there is a fixed number of jobs. However, U.S. technology workers have done well in the U.S. economy, with American-born college graduates with computer-related majors earning 83% higher salaries than non-STEM majors. The number of U.S.-born workers employed in computer science and mathematical occupations increased by over 2.7 million, or 141%, between 2003 and 2024, according to an NFAP analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

U.S.-born workers employed in all STEM-related occupations (including computer and mathematical occupations) increased by over 3 million, or 50%, between 2003 and 2024. Millions of Americans also use their STEM degrees in their jobs. The unemployment rate for computer and mathematical occupations dropped from 3.4% to 3.0% between August 2024 and August 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for architecture and engineering occupations fell from 1.7% to 1.4% between August 2024 and August 2025. The unemployment rate for college graduates between the ages 23 and 27 is higher than in 2019 but still has averaged a relatively low 4.59% in 2025. (The $100,000 fee proclamation used a survey with data from 2023 to argue that recent college graduates have been unable to find jobs because of H-1B visas without showing a correlation.)

After an initial lull in imposing restrictions on high-skilled immigration, the Trump administration has enacted or proposed measures to make it more difficult for high-skilled foreign nationals, including international students, to work in the United States. Research shows such policies will encourage companies to send more work and resources to other countries. U.S. banks have already started to do so, reports Bloomberg. The NFAP report concludes, “Restrictive policies toward high-skilled immigration in Donald Trump’s first term on H-1B visas have influenced second-term policies and could lead to higher denial rates and other problems for employers.”