International students get very excited about lists of companies who sponsor H-1B visas.  These lists are readily available on the Internet (usually for a fee), and are compiled from public information gathered by the US Department of Labor.  These lists of ‘H-1B sponsors’ usually show the title of the position sponsored, the salary paid, and the name of the company sponsoring.  It’s good to review these lists from time to time in order to remind yourself that there are, in fact, many companies who sponsor H-1B’s each year.  However, these lists are far less valuable than you may think.  Here’s why:

Although the lists show companies who have sponsored visas in the past, just because a company is on the list doesn’t mean that they welcome all applicants needing visa sponsorship.  Although it’s possible that some of these companies publicly advertise that they sponsor visas, it’s far more likely that they sponsored because they needed to in order to get the candidate they wanted.   International students make the mistake of assuming that the companies on the lists are more likely to accept H-1B visa candidates than other companies.  Not really true!

Companies sponsor visas for three reasons:

1. They’re having trouble finding the talent they need
2. They’re under time pressure to fill a job
3. A hiring manager really likes a candidate

Lists of ‘H-1B sponsors’ don’t tell you how to take advantage of these things.  They show your the end result without describing how you can make it happen for you.  Just because these companies sponsored someone else’s visa, doesn’t mean that they’ll sponsor yours.  Instead of reviewing lists of other people who have been successful in getting visa sponsorship, international students need to concentrate on motivating an employer to sponsor their visa.  How to do this is the subject of my book, and will be touched on in later blog entries; but it can be summarized as follows: Present your potential value to decision makers at companies that interest you – always.