USCIS data shows Amazon got the most H-1B visas each year from 2020 to 2024; Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple ranked in the top 10 in 2024
and what they get paid Erica Kollmann / Benzinga : Big Tech Companies Employ Majority Of H-1B Visa Workers: Where Do Amazon, Google, Meta Rank? Jessica Fu / Mercury News : H-1B workers grapple with uncertainty over visa program The Indian Express : Travel risks grow among Indian green card, H-1B, and F-1 visa holders as US tightens immigration rules Bluesky: Anup Kaphle / @anup : If the Trump administration makes drastic changes in the H-1B visa program, it's actually the U.S. tech giants who will take the biggest hit. — Ananya Bhattacharya's reporting for @restofworld.org — restofworld.org/2025/trump-h... [image] @restofworld.org : U.S. tech giants have become increasingly dependent on H-1B visas. Here's which companies could be hit the hardest by a Trump crackdown: — restofworld.org/2025/trump-h... X: @restofworld : As U.S. President Donald Trump sends mixed signals on the H-1B visa program, Amazon may find itself in a tight spot. The $2 trillion tech giant has bagged the most H-1B visa approvals each year since 2020 https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : A Trump H-1B visa crackdown could hit Big Tech hard https://restofworld.org/... [image] @restofworld : Here's which companies could suffer most if Trump cracks down on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers https://restofworld.org/... [image] Mehboob Jeelani / @jeelanireports : If Trump radically alters the H1-B, Amazon is likely to be hit the hardest, followed by Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple. Here's what the numbers say, compiled by @_ananyaaa https://restofworld.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Amazon’s lead extends a pattern visible in earlier USCIS-based coverage, when it topped the H-1B employer list in 2017. By 2019, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple collectively accounted for more than 30% of private-company approvals, a concentration documented in prior reporting on Big Tech’s visa share.
The 2020–24 results matter because they show that reliance on this hiring channel remains concentrated among the largest U.S. technology employers, rather than being broadly distributed across the sector.
First-order effects
- The data makes Amazon the clearest immediate exposure point for any H-1B rule disruption, with Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple also materially exposed as top-10 recipients in 2024.
- It gives policymakers and employees a more concrete map of which companies depend most on H-1B approvals, while underscoring Big Tech’s large share of H-1B employment.
Second-order effects
- If restrictions tighten, the companies with the largest approval volumes would face the most immediate pressure to alter recruiting, role location, or staffing plans; earlier coverage warned that visa suspensions could push more work abroad.
- A shift away from broad availability could also reallocate scarce approvals among employers, echoing the earlier expectation that fewer approvals for lower-skilled outsourcing roles would leave more for large tech firms.
Third-order effects
- If H-1B access becomes a less reliable input, talent mobility may become a more explicit competitive advantage for the largest platforms, favoring firms able to distribute work internationally.
- The recurring concentration in approval data raises a longer-run policy question: whether immigration rules aimed at labor-market protection can be designed without disproportionately reshaping the talent pipelines of a small group of major tech employers.
The trend: U.S. tech hiring is becoming increasingly sensitive to immigration-policy design because a small set of dominant employers accounts for an outsized share of H-1B demand.