OpenAI H-1B Visa Sponsorship 2026
Big tech & cloud · H-1B sponsor · FY2017–2026
🏢 San Francisco, CA HQ🌐 openai.com
Does OpenAI sponsor H-1B visas and green cards?
Yes. OpenAI has filed 540 H-1B LCAs and 8 PERM green-card cases with the U.S. Department of Labor between FY2017 and FY2026. In FY2025–2026 OpenAI filed 356 H-1B LCAs at a median base salary of $280,000, about 130% above the national H-1B median of $121,966 for the same period, and 5 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) | 239 | $260k |
| FY2025 | 117 | $310k |
| FY2024 | 86 | $310k |
| FY2023 | 17 | $245k |
| FY2022 | 18 | $245k |
| FY2021 | 10 | $160k |
| FY2020 | 6 | $183k |
| FY2019 | 20 | $175k |
| FY2018 | 18 | $150k |
| FY2017 | 9 | $120k |
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
- 1Member of Technical Staff83$200k
- 2Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer)64$255k
- 3Member of Technical Staff (Research Engineer)35$295k
- 4Member of Go To Market Staff34$250k
- 5Member of Technical Staff (Research & AI Systems)26$370k
- 6Member of Technical Staff (Hardware Engineering)22$380k
- 7Member of Technical Staff (Data Science)17$325k
- 8Member of Technical Staff (Research Scientist)15$360k
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) | 2 | $280k |
| FY2025 | 3 | $180k |
| FY2023 | 2 | $240k |
| FY2020 | 1 | $70k |
Green-card route and outcomes
Worker backgrounds · FY2017–2024
Where their green-card (PERM) workers studied & came from
Pay against the local market
OpenAI’s 10 most-filed occupations and metros. Its median base salary is 175% of the local BLS median for the same work.
| Occupation | Metro | Filings | OpenAI pay | Local BLS median‡ | vs market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | San Francisco, CA | 164 | $239,149 | $165,494 | 145% |
| Computer and Information Research Scientists | San Francisco, CA | 94 | $318,511 | $177,104 | 180% |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | San Francisco, CA | 57 | $268,421 | $156,971 | 171% |
| Data Scientists | San Francisco, CA | 27 | $313,333 | $166,300 | 188% |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | San Francisco, CA | 20 | $376,000 | $172,607 | 218% |
| Software Developers | Seattle, WA | 17 | $268,529 | $169,340 | 159% |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | San Francisco, CA | 12 | $252,166 | $212,278 | 119% |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | New York, NY | 9 | $284,778 | $115,480 | 247% |
| Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists | San Francisco, CA | 8 | $262,219 | $124,031 | 211% |
| Mechanical Engineers | San Francisco, CA | 7 | $399,000 | $145,640 | 274% |
About OpenAI
OpenAI builds frontier large language models, the GPT series and ChatGPT, alongside image and audio models. It is among the most closely watched AI labs and a major buyer of research and engineering talent.
- Name (DOL filings)
- OpenAI
- Listed
- Private
- Sponsoring since
- FY2017 or earlier
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, United States
- Industry
- Big tech & cloud
- Employees (global)
- 4,500 (2026)
- H-1B filings
- 540
- Median base
- $255,000
- Founded
- 2015
OpenAI pays a median H-1B base of $255,000 across FY2017–2026, about 150% above the typical Big tech & cloud sponsor.
H-1B sponsors similar to OpenAI
| Employer | Filings, all years | Recent filings | Median base | New employment | Level III-IV roles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | 811 | 249 | $160k | 62 | 62% |
| Saviynt | 600 | 132 | $128k | 34 | 72% |
| Zendesk | 599 | 94 | $177k | 23 | 79% |
| OpenAI | 540 | 356 | $280k | 63 | 51% |
| Tencent | 446 | 93 | $200k | 46 | 65% |
| Anthropic | 433 | 368 | $195k | 146 | 72% |
| Tera CloudX | 347 | 7 | $111k | 6 | — |
