Skip the lottery entirely. These employers can sponsor your H-1B visa any time of year with no annual cap.
Not every H-1B petition has to survive the brutal lottery. Cap-exempt employers — including universities, nonprofit research organizations, teaching hospitals, and government research labs — can file H-1B petitions at any time of year without being subject to the 85,000 annual cap. This guide covers every category of cap-exempt employer, how to identify them, and the strategic implications for your immigration journey.
| Company | Total H-1B Filings | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 55,150 | Cap-Subject (Private) |
| Microsoft | 34,626 | Cap-Subject (Private) |
| 33,416 | Cap-Subject (Private) | |
| Infosys | 32,840 | Cap-Subject (Consulting) |
| Deloitte | 18,200 | Cap-Subject (Consulting) |
| Apple | 15,800 | Cap-Subject (Private) |
| Meta | 14,900 | Cap-Subject (Private) |
| JPMorgan | 12,400 | Cap-Subject (Finance) |
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 214(g)(5) defines four categories of H-1B cap-exempt employers. The first and most straightforward category is institutions of higher education — any accredited public or private nonprofit university or college. This includes every position at the institution, not just faculty roles. Administrative staff, IT professionals, research scientists, and even facilities managers employed directly by a university are cap-exempt. Major examples include MIT, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, and thousands of other accredited institutions across the country.
The second category — nonprofit entities related to or affiliated with institutions of higher education — is where things get nuanced. USCIS looks for a formal written affiliation agreement, shared governance or ownership, or a direct operational relationship. Teaching hospitals affiliated with medical schools (such as Massachusetts General Hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School, or NewYork-Presbyterian affiliated with Columbia and Cornell) frequently qualify. University research foundations, campus bookstore nonprofits, and university-connected health systems may also qualify if the affiliation is documented and substantive. Simply being located near a university or having an informal collaboration is not sufficient.
The third and fourth categories cover nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations. These include entities like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Battelle Memorial Institute, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fermilab, the Smithsonian Institution, RAND Corporation, and NASA research centers. The critical requirement is that research must be a fundamental activity of the organization — not merely incidental. For nonprofits, USCIS requires that the entity have IRS tax-exempt status and that research is a primary mission, not a side project. Government research labs operated by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and other federal agencies are automatically cap-exempt.
Example 1: Johns Hopkins University filed an H-1B petition for a Research Associate in Biomedical Engineering in Baltimore, MD with an annual salary of $68,000. As an institution of higher education, this petition was cap-exempt and filed in October — well outside the April lottery window.
Example 2: Massachusetts General Hospital (affiliated with Harvard Medical School) sponsored a Clinical Research Coordinator in Boston, MA at $72,500 per year. The hospital's formal affiliation with Harvard qualified it as a related nonprofit entity, making this petition cap-exempt.
Example 3: Battelle Memorial Institute filed for a Senior Data Scientist at their Columbus, OH facility with a salary of $112,000. As a nonprofit research organization, Battelle's petitions are cap-exempt regardless of filing date.
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Search H-1B Sponsors on Wisa →It depends on the circumstances. If you were previously counted against the H-1B cap (i.e., you were selected in a lottery and had a cap-subject petition approved at some point), you are generally exempt from the cap for future petitions within your six-year H-1B limit. However, if your only H-1B status has been through cap-exempt employers and you were never counted against the cap, you would need to go through the lottery to move to a cap-subject employer. This is an important distinction that many applicants overlook when planning their career transitions.
All positions at a qualifying institution of higher education are cap-exempt, not just faculty and research roles. This includes administrative positions, IT staff, facilities management, financial analysts, marketing coordinators, and any other role at the institution. The cap exemption applies to the employer, not the specific position. As long as the petitioning entity is the accredited institution itself (not a separately incorporated entity that happens to be on campus), the petition qualifies for cap exemption.
Verifying cap-exempt status through university affiliation requires examining the formal relationship between the hospital and the educational institution. Look for a written affiliation agreement, shared board members or governance structure, joint appointments of faculty, and whether the hospital serves as a primary clinical training site for the medical school. Hospitals that simply have a loose teaching relationship or occasionally host medical students may not qualify. USCIS has denied cap-exempt claims where the affiliation was informal or the hospital was a separate for-profit entity. Ask the hospital's HR or legal department for documentation of their affiliation status.
Yes, cap-exempt employers can file H-1B petitions at any time throughout the year. They are not bound by the April 1 filing window or the March registration period that applies to cap-subject petitions. This means a qualifying university, research organization, or affiliated nonprofit can submit a new H-1B petition in June, September, or any other month. Processing times still apply — premium processing (15 business days) is available for an additional fee, and regular processing can take 3-6 months depending on the service center. This year-round filing flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of cap-exempt employment.