2026 H-1B Sponsorship Report for Software Engineers

Across all 22,659 postings, the distribution is Highly likely: 7,188 / 22,659 (31.7%); Likely: 7,965 / 22,659 (35.2%); Possible: 3,780 / 22,659 (16.7%); Unclear: 2,549 / 22,659 (11.2%); Unlikely: 1,177 / 22,659 (5.2%). Every retained posting has a persisted classification from the same taxonomy used in Openbound.

Highly likely and Likely are useful filters for prioritizing verification. Possible reflects limited supporting evidence; Unclear is an evidence gap. Unlikely can reflect an explicit restriction or other negative evidence. An employer’s historical filings do not override a current posting that rules out sponsorship. Rounded shares may not sum to exactly 100%.

General / Other Software is the largest title-defined group, with 14,211 / 22,659 postings (62.7%). This bucket includes general software titles that do not identify one of the named specialties. It should not be read as a single, uniform occupation.

For groups with at least 20 postings, General / Other Software has 9,211 / 14,211 (64.8%) Highly likely or Likely; Platform / Infrastructure / SRE has 3,120 / 4,174 (74.7%) Highly likely or Likely; Security Engineering has 1,332 / 1,850 (72.0%) Highly likely or Likely; Full-stack Engineering has 606 / 1,064 (57.0%) Highly likely or Likely; Backend Engineering has 372 / 626 (59.4%) Highly likely or Likely; Mobile Engineering has 339 / 467 (72.6%) Highly likely or Likely; Frontend Engineering has 173 / 267 (64.8%) Highly likely or Likely. These differences describe the current mix of employers and postings. They do not establish that moving into a different specialty would improve a candidate’s hiring outcome.

Subtypes follow a fixed title-rule precedence: security; platform, infrastructure or SRE; mobile; full-stack; frontend; backend; then general or other software. A platform title that also says backend is assigned to the platform group once. The broader software cohort follows the existing product’s first-matching occupation family.

This ranking combines current software openings with attributable employer history. It sorts by verified-history openings first, then Highly likely + Likely openings, total cohort openings and employer name. It does not rank historical LCA volume or promise that every listed employer sponsors every software role.

The leading three employers account for 4,039 / 22,659 postings (17.8%) in this cohort. Amazon leads this inventory-with-evidence ranking with 1,755 current openings, 1,705 attached to verified history, and 1,649 carrying favorable signals.

Lockheed Martin makes the distinction concrete: 1,330 of 1,330 openings attach to verified history, yet 0 carry Highly likely or Likely signals. The historical-evidence ranking therefore does not make every entry a favorable-signal shortlist. Verified history requires a verified identity, mapped LCA or USCIS history, and positive recent filings or initial/continuing approvals. Continuing approvals can relate to existing workers. This evidence is employer-level, lagged and not necessarily software-specific; the separate favorable column describes the current opening’s classification.

The recorded primary states with the most openings are CA: 7,528 / 22,659 (33.2%); WA: 2,201 / 22,659 (9.7%); TX: 1,556 / 22,659 (6.9%). A primary-state count is useful for navigating the inventory, but it does not capture every eligible worksite of a multi-location or nationwide remote posting.

Each posting contributes to exactly one stored primary-state bucket. 2677 / 22,659 records have no stored primary state and remain in the unspecified bucket. The chart displays the ten largest buckets; expand the table for all states. Before planning a move, check the source’s permitted location and work authorization language.

Unspecified: 17,072 / 22,659 (75.3%); Remote: 3,110 / 22,659 (13.7%); Hybrid: 1,498 / 22,659 (6.6%); On-site: 979 / 22,659 (4.3%). Among the 3110 Remote postings, 1902 (61.2%) carry Highly likely or Likely classifications.

Workplace type is unspecified for 17,072 / 22,659 postings (75.3%). The extraction keeps these unknowns rather than treating a missing remote flag as on-site work. This missing coverage, along with differences in employers and roles, prevents a causal claim about workplace arrangement and sponsorship.

If remote work is essential, combine the workplace filter with a favorable sponsorship classification, then confirm permitted states and the employing entity. A U.S. remote posting can still require existing authorization and can still exclude international or certain state locations.

Start with the 15,153 favorable-signal openings, then filter for the stack, scope and location you can actually work in. Use the specialty comparison to refine your search, not to infer a personal success probability.

Build an employer shortlist from current relevant openings. For each role, check the source posting’s sponsorship restriction, the employing legal entity and the evidence on the company page. A sponsor’s historical scale is less useful when it has no suitable current opening.

For the 2,549 Unclear openings, ask a focused recruiter question early: does this specific role consider candidates needing sponsorship for your pathway? Missing evidence does not mean refusal, but resolving it before a long interview loop saves time.

Separate location from immigration support. For Remote openings, confirm permitted U.S. states; for multi-location roles, confirm the actual worksite. This snapshot counts listings, not vacancies, offers or hires.