Merck H-1B Visa Sponsorship 2026
Pharma & biotech · H-1B sponsor · FY2017–2026
🏢 Rahway, NJ HQ🌐 merck.com
Does Merck sponsor H-1B visas and green cards?
Yes. Merck has filed 1,332 H-1B LCAs and 146 PERM green-card cases with the U.S. Department of Labor between FY2017 and FY2026. In FY2025–2026 Merck filed 335 H-1B LCAs at a median base salary of $124,758, about 2% above the national H-1B median of $121,966 for the same period, and 33 green-card cases were decided.
H-1B pay & filings by year
Median base salary (line) and H-1B filing volume (bars), by fiscal year
Show the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | H-1B LCA filings | Median base salary |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 (partial) | 144 | $125k |
| FY2025 | 191 | $125k |
| FY2024 | 166 | $114k |
| FY2023 | 135 | $119k |
| FY2022 | 148 | $98k |
| FY2021 | 135 | $101k |
| FY2020 | 115 | $91k |
| FY2019 | 136 | $91k |
| FY2018 | 94 | $88k |
| FY2017 | 68 | $81k |
A fiscal year marked partial is still in progress, so its total is lower than a complete year and the two are not comparable.
H-1B wage floor & filing outcomes
What this employer pays against the DOL legal minimum, how senior the roles are, and how the filings were decided
Roles they file for
- 1Senior Scientist, Statistical Programming96$108k
- 2Senior Scientist, Biostatistics84$97k
- 3Associate Principal Scientist, Statistical Programming61$136k
- 4Associate Principal Scientist, Biostatistics47$126k
- 5Senior Scientist, Chemistry40$114k
- 6Senior Scientist, Preclinical Development38$115k
- 7Senior Scientist, Analytical R&D33$111k
- 8Senior Scientist, Biology-Discovery30$117k
Where they hire
Green-card (PERM) pay & filings by year
Median green-card offer (line) and PERM filing volume (bars), by fiscal year †
Show the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | PERM filings | Median base salary |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 (partial) | 12 | $127k |
| FY2025 | 21 | $99k |
| FY2024 | 4 | $70k |
| FY2023 | 9 | $112k |
| FY2022 | 27 | $78k |
| FY2021 | 23 | $75k |
| FY2020 | 8 | $95k |
| FY2019 | 15 | $104k |
| FY2018 | 15 | $113k |
| FY2017 | 12 | $106k |
Green-card route and outcomes
Worker backgrounds · FY2017–2024
Where their green-card (PERM) workers studied & came from
Patents
- Granted
- 7,473
- US patents
- Published, not yet granted
- 225
- applications
- Most recent grant
- March 2, 2021
- Top area
- Heterocyclic compounds3,402
Pay against the local market
Merck’s 10 most-filed occupations and metros. Its median base salary is 103% of the local BLS median for the same work.
| Occupation | Metro | Filings | Merck pay | Local BLS median‡ | vs market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statisticians | Philadelphia, PA | 206 | $101,826 | $97,271 | 105% |
| Statisticians | New York, NY | 163 | $110,027 | $124,438 | 88% |
| Biochemists and Biophysicists | New York, NY | 77 | $111,152 | $102,496 | 108% |
| Chemists | New York, NY | 75 | $93,804 | $85,600 | 110% |
| Software Developers | New York, NY | 34 | $133,233 | $148,753 | 90% |
| Biological Scientists, All Other | New York, NY | 28 | $102,047 | $98,423 | 104% |
| Biochemists and Biophysicists | San Francisco, CA | 28 | $118,353 | $129,433 | 91% |
| Data Scientists | New York, NY | 24 | $133,545 | $130,829 | 102% |
| Chemical Engineers | New York, NY | 20 | $118,464 | $121,510 | 97% |
| Biochemists and Biophysicists | Boston, MA | 19 | $131,663 | $127,510 | 103% |
About Merck
Merck is a pharma & biotech company based in Kenilworth. It was founded in 1891 and has about 68,000 employees worldwide. It is listed on NYSE as MRK.
- Legal name
- Merck & Co., Inc.
- Listed
- NYSE: MRK
- Incorporated in
- New Jersey
- Headquarters
- 126 East Lincoln Avenue, Rahway, NJ 07065
- Industry
- Pharma & biotech
- Employees (global)
- 75,000 (2025)
- Revenue FY2025
- $65.0B +1% from $64.2B
- Net income FY2025
- $18.3B +7% from $17.1B
- R&D FY2025
- $15.8B (24% of revenue)
Spends 24% of revenue on R&D, against a 73% median across the 122 Pharmaceutical Preparations filers we hold SEC data for.
H-1B sponsors similar to Merck
| Employer | Filings, all years | Recent filings | Median base | New employment | Level III-IV roles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amgen | 3,981 | 745 | $138k | 247 | 46% |
| AbbVie | 2,407 | 562 | $147k | 146 | 77% |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 2,250 | 441 | $153k | 145 | 83% |
| Merck | 1,332 | 335 | $125k | 111 | 49% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals | 1,135 | 336 | $133k | 75 | 72% |
| Sanofi | 1,097 | 309 | $125k | 89 | 64% |
| Biogen | 988 | 161 | $138k | 51 | 78% |
