Research Scientist
H-1B LCA sponsorship — science family
H-1B LCA filings for Research Scientist roles grew from 3,204 in FY2020 to 4,544 in FY2025. See the sponsorship trend and the top employers sponsoring Research Scientist roles.
Sponsorship trend (trailing 4-quarter filings)
Rolling 12-month sum, which removes the Q3 cap-season spike. LCA certification, not USCIS petition approval.
Top sponsors — FY2025
| Employer | Filings | Median wage |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms, Inc | 533 | $185,644 |
| Columbia University | 250 | $78,950 |
| Google LLC | 198 | $194,500 |
| Yale University | 151 | $75,000 |
| The Leland Stanford, Jr University | 139 | $83,150 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 103 | $83,350 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 99 | $184,997 |
| AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC | 82 | $168,200 |
| Emory University | 75 | $70,000 |
| THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS M.D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER | 66 | $76,915 |
| NYU Grossman School of Medicine | 56 | $85,000 |
| Adobe Inc. | 53 | $195,000 |
| ByteDance Inc. | 51 | $276,000 |
| Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | 50 | $186,719 |
| Intel Corporation | 44 | $144,173 |
| The University of Virginia | 40 | $68,200 |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 39 | $123,196 |
| ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL | 38 | $104,000 |
| UT Southwestern Medical Center | 37 | $71,267 |
| Johns Hopkins University | 36 | $78,843 |
Fastest-growing sponsors
FY2023 → FY2025, by absolute change in filings.
| Employer | FY2023 | FY2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms, Inc | 446 | 533 | +87 |
| GOOGLE LLC | 135 | 198 | +63 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 48 | 99 | +51 |
| Adobe Inc. | 16 | 53 | +37 |
| Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | 28 | 50 | +22 |
| University of Washington | 0 | 21 | +21 |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 19 | 39 | +20 |
| BYTEDANCE INC. | 33 | 51 | +18 |
| The University of Alabama at Birmingham | 0 | 12 | +12 |
| QPS, LLC | 3 | 14 | +11 |
| Zoom Communications, Inc. | 0 | 10 | +10 |
| IBM Corporation | 25 | 35 | +10 |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County | 12 | 21 | +9 |
| University of Louisville | 1 | 10 | +9 |
| Adesis, Inc. | 0 | 8 | +8 |
| University of Georgia | 1 | 9 | +8 |
| THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY | 8 | 16 | +8 |
| OpenAI OpCo, LLC | 1 | 9 | +8 |
| ServiceNow, Inc. | 6 | 14 | +8 |
| The University of Chicago | 1 | 8 | +7 |
Yearly summary
| FY | Filings | Cert rate | Median wage | Prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 3,204 | 99.7% | $90,000 | $76,461 |
| FY2021 | 5,841 | 99.6% | $88,470 | $76,669 |
| FY2022 | 3,898 | 99.8% | $90,000 | $73,258 |
| FY2023 | 4,772 | 99.7% | $88,349 | $72,500 |
| FY2024 | 4,242 | 99.4% | $94,307 | $78,104 |
| FY2025 | 4,544 | 99.8% | $100,714 | $83,731 |
| FY2026 * | 758 | 99.9% | $85,000 | $74,672 |
* incomplete fiscal year (fewer than 4 quarters of data).