You have found the person you want to hire. They cannot legally work in the United States without an employer willing to petition for them, and that employer would be you. H-1B visa sponsorship is not a form you fill in on their behalf, it is a decision to take on a set of federal obligations that outlast the hire, and it is yours to make before anything else happens.
Work visa sponsorship commits you to three things that are easy to underestimate. There are legal obligations, including wage rules you must meet for the whole period of employment and records you must keep and make public. There is a real cost, most of which the law says you cannot pass to the employee. And there is a timeline you do not control, because it is anchored to the federal fiscal year rather than to your hiring plan.
This guide covers H-1B sponsorship in depth as the most common employment-based route, compares the other visa categories you should check before defaulting to it, and treats employer immigration sponsorship for a green card as a separate process at the end.
Two questions get answered here that applicant-facing guides skip. What sponsorship actually costs you, line by line, with the rules on who legally pays each item. And what you do when your candidate is not selected (which, on the most recent published numbers, is the more likely outcome).
What is H-1B visa sponsorship?
H-1B visa sponsorship means an employer petitions the US government to employ a foreign national in a specialty occupation, attests to specific conditions about the job and the wage, and takes on ongoing legal obligations for the duration of that employment. The employer is the petitioner. The worker is the beneficiary.
Three agencies each control a different part of the process, and confusing them is the most common reason employers misjudge the timeline:
- The Department of Labor (DOL) handles the wage side. It issues prevailing wage determinations and certifies the Labor Condition Application, in which you attest to what you will pay and under what conditions (20 CFR 655.731, retrieved 31 July 2026).
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) handles the petition itself, running the cap registration and adjudicating Form I-129.
- The State Department handles visa issuance at a consulate abroad, where the beneficiary applies for the physical visa stamp.
Readers routinely conflate three different things. Separating them saves weeks:
- A nonimmigrant work visa: temporary, tied to a specific employer and role. H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, E-3 and H-1B1 all sit here.
- Permanent residence sponsorship: an immigrant process measured in years, not months, covered in its own section below.
- Work authorization the candidate already holds: F-1 OPT, an existing green card, or eligibility for a category that needs no petition at all. This requires no sponsorship from you, only verification.
Sponsorship is employer-initiated. A candidate cannot self-sponsor an H-1B; there must be a US employer willing to file and to stand behind the attestations.
Which work visa should you sponsor, and why is H-1B the usual answer?
The H-1B is the default for professional roles that normally require a bachelor's degree in a specific field, which is why it dominates the conversation. It is also capped and allocated by lottery, which is exactly why you should check whether a non-capped category fits your candidate first. A category with no cap can start months earlier and cost substantially less.
Comparison of the main US employment visa categories by who they fit, whether they are capped, initial validity, and how much work they put on the employer. All cap and validity figures verified against the corresponding USCIS category page, retrieved using AI on 31 July 2026.
If your candidate is a recent graduate on F-1 status, check STEM OPT, which allows a 24-month extension of post-completion OPT for eligible STEM degree holders working for an E-Verify employer, and the cap-gap provision, which can bridge the gap between OPT expiry and an H-1B start date. And if your candidate is a Canadian or Mexican citizen in a qualifying profession, TN is the fastest and cheapest route available. A Canadian citizen can apply for admission directly at a Class A port of entry with no Form I-129 petition and no consular visa.
What are the requirements for a company to sponsor an H-1B visa?
Any US employer with a Federal Employer Identification Number can sponsor an H-1B. There is no minimum company size, revenue threshold, or headcount requirement. The constraints are documentation and ability to pay, not scale. Startups sponsor H-1B workers every year.
Work through this as a checklist:
- A valid FEIN and a US business presence in good standing. You need a legal entity that can employ and pay in the US.
- A specialty occupation role. USCIS defines this as an occupation requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, and attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the occupation (USCIS H-1B specialty occupations, retrieved 31 July 2026).
- A qualifying beneficiary. The candidate holds the relevant US degree, a foreign equivalent supported by a credential evaluation, or equivalent experience.
- A certified Labor Condition Application. Filed with DOL on Form ETA-9035 or 9035E before the petition.
- Payment of the required wage. This is the higher of the prevailing wage for the occupation and area, or the actual wage you pay other similarly employed workers (20 CFR 655.731).
- Ability-to-pay evidence. Financial documentation showing you can meet that wage for the period requested.
- An employer-employee relationship with a right of control. Independent contractor arrangements generally do not qualify.
- No strike or lockout in the occupational classification at the place of employment.
- Notice posting. The LCA must be posted at each place of employment for 10 days, or notice given electronically or to the bargaining representative (20 CFR 655.734).
- A Public Access File. Assembled within one working day of filing the LCA and retained for at least one year beyond the last date any worker is employed under it (20 CFR 655.760).
One thing is worth saying before anything else: wage compliance is the most common failure point in H-1B sponsorship, and the easiest to misjudge. Setting the offer below the applicable prevailing wage level, or misclassifying the role's wage level against the occupational code, is what generates Requests for Evidence, denials, and back-wage liability.
How do you sponsor an employee for an H-1B, step by step?
Sponsorship runs through two agencies before the employee can start. You register the candidate in the USCIS cap lottery, and if selected, complete the DOL wage and Labor Condition Application steps, file the petition with USCIS, and then either send the employee to a consulate for a visa or change their status inside the US. The sequence below is for a cap-subject employer; cap-exempt employers skip the lottery entirely and file year-round.
1. Confirm the role and the candidate qualify
Test the role against the USCIS specialty occupation standard before spending anything. Document why the position normally requires a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field — the job description, the degree requirement, and industry norms all form part of the record. Confirm the candidate's degree matches the specialty. Where the degree is foreign, obtain a credential evaluation establishing US equivalency. Getting this wrong here is what surfaces later as an RFE.
2. Get a prevailing wage determination
Request a prevailing wage determination from the DOL National Prevailing Wage Center on Form ETA-9141, filed through the FLAG system. A DOL determination is encouraged but not mandatory — you may use another legitimate wage source — but it gives you a safe harbour. Build in real lead time: as of 30 June 2026, the NPWC was processing H-1B OEWS-based requests received in April 2026 (DOL FLAG processing times, retrieved 31 July 2026).
3. File the Labor Condition Application
File Form ETA-9035 or 9035E through FLAG. You attest to four things: that you will pay at least the required wage, that employing the worker will not adversely affect the working conditions of similarly employed workers, that there is no strike or lockout, and that notice has been given. DOL reviews LCAs "within seven (7) working days for completeness and obvious errors or inaccuracies" (DOL, retrieved 31 July 2026). An LCA cannot be filed more than six months before the employment start date.
4. Register the candidate in the H-1B cap lottery
Register through your USCIS organizational account during the annual registration window, which USCIS announces each year. The FY2027 window ran from 4 March to 19 March 2026, with a registration fee of $215 per beneficiary (USCIS, retrieved 31 July 2026). Selection is beneficiary-centric, so registering the same person twice gains you nothing. From FY2027, selection is also wage-weighted — see the section on what changed.
5. If selected, file the H-1B petition
File Form I-129 with the H Classification Supplement, the certified LCA, evidence of the specialty occupation and the beneficiary's credentials, and the applicable fees. The employer, not the employee, completes and signs the petition — the employee supplies passport details, academic records, credential evaluations, and immigration history, but the legal filing is yours. For FY2027, the filing window opened 1 April 2026 and USCIS gives each selected registrant at least 90 days, with the exact end date printed on the selection notice.
6. Decide on premium processing
Form I-907 buys a USCIS response within 15 business days for $2,965, effective 1 March 2026 (Federal Register, 91 FR 1072, retrieved 31 July 2026). It accelerates adjudication only. It does not accelerate the lottery, the LCA, the prevailing wage determination, or a consular appointment, and the clock stops if USCIS issues an RFE.
7. Get the employee work-ready
If the beneficiary is abroad, they complete Form DS-160, pay the visa application fee, schedule an appointment at a US embassy or consulate, and attend a visa interview. If they are already in the US in another valid status, the petition can request a change of status — they never leave the country and never need a visa stamp until they next travel. For cap-subject petitions, the earliest permissible employment start date is 1 October, the first day of the relevant fiscal year.
Cap-exempt employers: institutions of higher education, affiliated nonprofits, and nonprofit or governmental research organisations skip steps 4 entirely. You file the LCA and I-129 whenever you need to, with no lottery and no cap-season deadline. If you do not yet have a US entity or FEIN, that comes before everything above.
How much does H-1B sponsorship cost, and who legally pays?
Sponsorship cost is a stack of separate government fees plus legal fees, not a single price. More importantly, federal rules prohibit you from shifting certain of those costs onto the employee — including any deduction that would drop their effective pay below the required wage. Getting the who-pays question wrong creates back-wage liability that costs far more than the fees themselves.
USCIS and State Department fees for an H-1B petition, showing who bears each cost. All amounts verified against 8 CFR Part 106 and the USCIS Form G-1055 fee schedule (edition 29 May 2026), retrieved 31 July 2026.
Sources: 8 CFR 106.2, 8 CFR 106.4, USCIS Form G-1055, State Department visa fees. All retrieved 31 July 2026. Fees change; confirm current amounts before filing.
Which costs are legally yours. DOL rules are explicit that the employee may not be required to pay or reimburse the ACWIA training fee, and that no deduction, recoupment, or reimbursement arrangement may reduce the worker's pay below the required wage (20 CFR 655.731; DOL Fact Sheet 62H). Separately, you may not impose a penalty on a worker who ceases employment before an agreed date. Bona fide liquidated damages are permitted, but whether a clawback is one or the other is decided under applicable state law, and getting it wrong exposes you to back-wage liability. Have counsel review any repayment agreement before you use it.
What changed for H-1B sponsorship in 2025 and 2026?
Three things have changed materially, and any guidance written before 2026 is now out of date on all three. Sponsorship costs more, the lottery no longer treats every registration equally, and USCIS is scrutinising specialty occupation claims more closely than it was two years ago.
The additional payment requirement
A presidential proclamation issued 19 September 2025 requires certain H-1B petitions filed at or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern on 21 September 2025 to be accompanied by an additional $100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility. The conditions matter far more than the headline number: it is directed at new petitions for beneficiaries who are outside the United States and require consular processing, and does not reach extensions, amendments, or in-country change-of-status filings. Most employers reading this page will not be affected.
Status as of 31 July 2026: the requirement was vacated by the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on 8 June 2026, and the First Circuit denied the government's motion for a stay on 24 July 2026. DHS has stated it is complying with the order while considering next steps, and that it still intends to collect the payment if the order is lifted. This is live litigation. Confirm the position with counsel before you file. See the USCIS H-1B cap season page for the current agency statement.
Wage-weighted lottery selection
Registrations are no longer weighted equally. Under the DHS final rule published 29 December 2025 and effective 27 February 2026, each registration is entered into the selection pool between one and four times according to the OEWS wage level the offered wage meets — Level IV four times, Level III three times, Level II twice, Level I once (90 FR 60864). Each beneficiary still counts once against the cap. The practical consequence for employers is that role scope and compensation now need to be settled before registration opens, not after — and you must be able to evidence the wage level you claimed as of the registration date.
Heavier scrutiny of specialty occupation claims
Requests for Evidence on specialty occupation determinations add legal cost and elapsed time, and in a cap-subject year that time is not recoverable. Build the evidentiary record for the role at step one rather than assembling it in response to an RFE.
Rules in this section were last reviewed on 31 July 2026. Cap-season rules change annually and this area is actively litigated — confirm the current position before filing.
How long does H-1B sponsorship really take?
For a cap-subject H-1B, the gap between registering a candidate and their legal first day is measured in months, and it is anchored to the federal fiscal year rather than to your hiring timeline. A candidate registered in the March window cannot start before 1 October of that year at the earliest. USCIS announces each year's dates separately, so treat the calendar below as the shape of the cycle rather than as fixed dates.
H-1B cap-subject timeline using the FY2027 cycle as the worked example, showing what can delay each stage. Dates from USCIS cap season announcements, retrieved 31 July 2026.
Sources: USCIS H-1B cap season, USCIS processing times, DOL FLAG processing times. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
Three situations move faster. Cap-exempt employers file year-round with no lottery. An H-1B transfer for someone already in H-1B status is not cap-subject and the employee can generally begin on filing. And non-capped categories such as TN or O-1 skip the cap calendar altogether.
How hard is sponsorship, and what happens if your candidate is not selected?
Sponsorship is harder than most guides admit, and the hardest part is the part you cannot influence. For FY2026, USCIS selected 120,141 registrations out of 343,981 eligible registrations. Roughly one in three (USCIS H-1B electronic registration process, retrieved 31 July 2026). Plan on the assumption that your candidate will not be selected, and treat selection as the upside case.
The administrative load is the second dimension. Two federal agencies, a minimum of four forms, a wage determination, a posting requirement, and a Public Access File that must be assembled within one working day of filing the LCA and kept for at least a year after the worker's last day under it.
The third dimension is the one almost nothing in the ranking set covers: what sponsorship commits you to after approval. You must file an amended petition when there is a material change to the employment. You must pay the required wage during non-productive time when the non-productive status is your decision. Lack of work, lack of a licence, or training all count (20 CFR 655.731(c)(7)). And if you dismiss the employee before the end of the authorised period, you are liable for the reasonable cost of return transportation to their last place of foreign residence (8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(E)).
If your candidate is not selected, you have four options, in order of how quickly you can execute them:
- Check for a non-capped route. If you are a cap-exempt employer you were never in the lottery. If not, test whether the candidate fits O-1, L-1 after a qualifying year at an overseas affiliate, TN, E-3, or H-1B1.
- Bridge their existing status. A candidate on F-1 OPT or STEM OPT, or holding another status with remaining validity, may be able to keep working while you re-register in the next cap season.
- Re-register next cycle. Tell the candidate plainly what the wait is: registration opens the following March, and the earliest start date is the following 1 October. That is a long time to hold an offer open.
- Employ them compliantly where they already have the right to work. If the role can be performed outside the US, an employer of record can employ them in their home country while sponsorship is re-filed or reconsidered.
Where Oyster fits, and where it does not. An employer of record cannot create US work authorization, and Oyster does not sponsor US work visas. If the role must be performed in the United States by someone who is not authorized to work there, sponsorship is the only path and you will need immigration counsel. What Oyster does is employ your candidate compliantly in the country where they already have the right to work, so the hire is not lost while the US question is resolved.
Oyster's employer of record service covers hiring in 180+ countries without setting up a local entity. Oyster supports visa sponsorship in 60+ countries outside the United States, with a network of immigration specialists and local HR business partners guiding each application. New team members can be onboarded in as little as 48 hours. [VERIFY: 48-hour onboarding figure not confirmed on a public Oyster page — please confirm or replace before publish.]
Support is delivered by named specialists rather than a ticket queue, which matters most in exactly the situations this page describes — where the compliant answer depends on the candidate's status, the role's location requirement, and the country involved.
Deciding whether to sponsor, wait, or hire where the candidate is already authorized to work, based on the constraints of the role.
How do you sponsor someone for a green card?
Employment-based permanent residence is a three-stage process the employer initiates, and it is measured in years rather than months. Treat it as a retention commitment to someone you already employ, not as a hiring tool for someone you are trying to start next quarter.
Stage one: PERM labor certification. You file Form ETA-9089 with DOL through the FLAG system, after conducting documented recruitment demonstrating no able, willing and qualified US worker is available for the role, and obtaining a prevailing wage determination (DOL PERM, retrieved 31 July 2026).
Stage two: the immigrant petition. You file Form I-140 with USCIS, establishing that the role and the employee qualify in the relevant preference category and that you can pay the offered wage (USCIS Form I-140).
Stage three: adjustment or consular processing. The employee files Form I-485 to adjust status if they are in the US, or goes through consular processing abroad.
Two categories cover most professional hires. EB-2 is for members of the professions holding an advanced degree or its equivalent, or persons of exceptional ability. EB-3 covers skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals holding a US bachelor's or foreign equivalent, and other workers.
How priority dates actually work. Your employee's priority date is the date DOL received the PERM application. Because Congress caps employment-based green cards annually and limits how many can go to nationals of any one country, demand exceeds supply for some categories and some countries of birth. The State Department publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin with two charts. Final Action Dates is the queue: when your employee's priority date is earlier than the listed date for their category and country of birth, a visa number is available and the case can be approved. Dates for Filing is an earlier date that lets applicants submit paperwork ahead of the queue, usable only when USCIS says so for a given month.
The two things that determine how long this takes are therefore the employee's preference category and their country of birth — not their salary, seniority, or how quickly you file. Backlogs for high-demand countries move month to month, so read the current bulletin rather than any published estimate.
Deciding what to do next
Sponsorship decisions get made against a candidate who is already waiting, and the two paths are not mutually exclusive. You can sponsor for the role that must be based in the US, and employ someone compliantly where they are while that runs — or while you wait for the next cap season. What matters is deciding deliberately rather than defaulting to the lottery and hoping.
If you are weighing a specific hire, talk it through with someone who has seen the situation before. Oyster's specialists can walk you through what employing this person in their current country would involve, and what it would not solve. So why not a book a demo with us to do just that?
