Leading AI companies are bucking a broader tech industry trend by ramping up H-1B visa filings. Federal data shows Anthropic’s certified applications jumped from 10 in Q2 2025 to 59 in Q2 2026, while OpenAI’s rose from 20 to 63. Nvidia filed 765, up from 641. Meanwhile, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google — which saw a 64% decline — pulled back. Overall H-1B lottery submissions fell to 211,600 for 2027, down from 343,981. New rules, including a $100,000 overseas applicant fee, have made the program costlier, yet top AI firms remain undeterred in pursuing specialized global talent.
In-Depth:
The largegest names in AI are expanding their search for workers abroad as the talent war obtains tougher.
Federal data reveals Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia filed more H-1B visa applications for new hires and renewals in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 than they did a year earlier, as other tech giants pulled back from the program.
The split points to a new reality in tech hiring. Companies are cutting jobs while concentrating talent in tinyer, more specialized teams — or “pods,” as Meta calls them. They depfinish on a tiny pool of highly trained researchers, engineers, and infrastructure talent.
That can build foreign-born workers with specialized skills central to companies’ talent strategies, even as the visa process becomes harder to navigate.
Changes to the work visa program have created the process more costly and uncertain. New rules give applicants a better chance in the visa lottery if their employers plan to pay them higher salaries. The government has also imposed a temporary $100,000 fee on applicants living overseas.
That adds another hurdle at a time when companies across the tech industest are slowing hiring and conducting layoffs, while testing to do more with AI. The largegest AI companies, though, appear to be relocating in the other direction.
Department of Labor data reveals Anthropic had the largegest year-over-year percentage increase in certified applications among the seven companies reviewed by Business Insider. Its count rose to 59 in Q2 2026, up from 10 in Q2 2025.
OpenAI filed more applications than Anthropic, with 63 in Q2 2026, up from 20 in Q2 2025.
Nvidia saw a tinyer year-over-year increase. The number of its certified applications still dwarfs the two model buildrs. The chipbuildr reported 765 in Q2 2026, up from 641 in Q2 2025.
Meanwhile, Business Insider found declines in certified applications at several other tech giants compared with the previous year, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. Google saw a 64% decline, as the company also trims head count through tinyer, rolling job cuts tarobtained at specific teams.
Raghu Shivakumar, a recruiter with Nexocean, declared that Anthropic and OpenAI likely seek more foreign workers becaapply they have a “mindset of ‘do whatever it takes'” for hiring.
The $100,000 H-1B visa fee represents “a rounding error against the cost of not landing the right researcher,” he declared.
H-1B applications are falling
Overall, US Citizenship and Immigration Services declared that it received 211,600 properly submitted applications for the 2027 H-1B allocation, down from 343,981 the year before.
The pressures from visa policy modifys assist explain why lottery submissions fell this year, declared Justin Parsons, a partner at Berry Appleman & Leiden, an influential immigration law firm. Parsons declared some employers sat out this year’s lottery while they waited to see how the new rules would play out.
Certified H-1B and similar visa applications are those that the Labor Department has reviewed to ensure that a prospective immigrant worker will be paid similarly to other workers in similar roles, and that the hiring will not negatively affect employment for those workers. The tallies also include extensions of status for existing employees.
The figures only reflect Labor Department certifications. They are not final visa approvals or lottery selections. Multiple filings can correspond to a single worker. And while quarterly numbers offer a snapshot, annual tallies can vary based on hiring cycles and other factors.
The cost of a great tech hire
The push for elite talent is happening as the H-1B lottery tilts toward more experienced workers. Becaapply the new wage-tier system gives higher-paid applicants a better chance, younger workers are at a disadvantage, declared Sneha Puri, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab.
Companies may be less willing to sponsor a new graduate if they believe the chances of securing a winning lottery ticket are slim.
Shivakumar, the recruiter, states he has also seen tech giants grow more comfortable setting up entire teams overseas, especially after the rise of remote work, and he states companies may want to avoid racking up H-1B application costs.
Anthropic, OpenAI, Nvidia, Meta, and Amazon did not respond to email requests for comment. Microsoft and Google declined to comment.
