Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google Now Hold the Top Four Spots for New H-1B Approvals

"Does Amazon sponsor H-1B?" "Does Google sponsor H-1B?" These are some of the most-searched questions among international students, and the latest government data gives an unusually clear answer. According to a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis of USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub figures for fiscal year 2025, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Google were the four employers approved for the most new H-1B petitions — the first time U.S. technology companies have held all four top spots.

The FY 2025 numbers: new (initial-employment) H-1B approvals

"Initial employment" approvals are the closest proxy for new H-1B hires — mostly lottery winners starting their first H-1B job, many of them former F-1 students switching from OPT or STEM OPT. These are the employers at the top of that list in FY 2025:

1. Amazon — 4,644 approvals
2. Meta Platforms — 1,555 approvals
3. Microsoft — 1,394 approvals
4. Google — 1,050 approvals
5. Tata Consultancy Services — 846 approvals
6. Apple — 823 approvals

Across the program, 28,277 different U.S. employers were approved for at least one new H-1B worker in FY 2025. Most sponsors are small: 61% of those employers were approved for exactly one new petition, and 95% were approved for ten or fewer. In other words, the big names dominate the headlines, but the vast majority of H-1B sponsors are companies most students have never heard of — which is exactly why checking sponsorship history company-by-company matters.

Continuing-employment approvals: who keeps H-1B workers

Continuing-employment approvals cover extensions, amendments, and transfers of workers who already hold H-1B status. They are a good signal of how large a company's existing H-1B workforce is. In FY 2025, the leaders were:

1. Amazon — 14,532 approvals
2. Tata Consultancy Services — 5,293 approvals
3. Microsoft — 4,863 approvals
4. Meta Platforms — 4,740 approvals
5. Apple — 4,610 approvals
6. Google — 4,509 approvals

The Indian IT outsourcers have fallen sharply

The flip side of Big Tech's rise is the long decline of Indian-headquartered IT services firms, which dominated the new-H-1B rankings a decade ago. NFAP found that the top seven Indian IT companies received 4,573 approvals for new H-1B workers in FY 2025 — 37% fewer than in FY 2024, and about 70% fewer than in FY 2015. TCS was the only one of those firms to finish in the top five for continuing-employment approvals.

What this means if you are on F-1, CPT, or OPT

• All four leaders — Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google — have a multi-year record of sponsoring H-1B for new graduates. A large share of their new approvals are workers who were already in the U.S. on OPT or STEM OPT.
• Being in the U.S. on OPT is an advantage: an employer can file your H-1B as a change of status from F-1, and the STEM OPT 24-month extension gives you additional lottery attempts before your work authorization runs out.
• Headline counts are company-wide. Sponsorship at a large employer still varies by team and role — engineering, applied science, and data roles are sponsored far more often than many business or operations roles.
• The big names are also the most competitive. With 28,000+ employers sponsoring at least one new H-1B, widening your search to mid-size companies with a steady sponsorship record is one of the most effective things an OPT job seeker can do.

FY 2026 is already looking different

The FY 2025 data predates most of the effects of Proclamation 10973, the $100,000 H-1B fee announced in September 2025. Early FY 2026 Department of Labor filing data shows several of these same companies filing noticeably fewer Labor Condition Applications, while AI-focused companies such as Nvidia and OpenAI filed more — see our companion article on AI labs versus Big Tech H-1B filings. The fee itself remains tied up in litigation; see our earlier coverage for its current status.

Bottom line

If you are asking whether Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, or Apple sponsor H-1B visas, the FY 2025 answer is an emphatic yes — they are the largest sponsors of new H-1B workers in the country. But they are also a tiny slice of the 28,000-plus employers that sponsor, and your odds improve fastest when you target every company with a real sponsorship track record, not just the famous ones.