Cap-Exempt H-1B Employers: No Lottery

Universities, many teaching hospitals and nonprofit research institutes can file an H-1B any time of year, with no lottery. From Oct 2025 - Jun 2026, universities alone filed 4,700 entry-level H-1B applications for new hires: 13% of all entry-level filings. If you lost the lottery, or want a path that doesn't depend on it, start here.

Universities (cap-exempt)

Ranked by Level I applications for new hires. Roles include research assistants, data analysts, software engineers in research groups and lab engineers.

#	Employer	Level I new hires	Level II new hires	All H-1B filings	State
1	Washington University	108	29	305	MO
2	University of Michigan	105	14	378	MI
3	The Leland Stanford, Jr University	96	43	307	CA
4	Johns Hopkins University	89	16	231	MD
5	Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania	77	25	244	PA
6	University of Wisconsin System	73	3	190	WI
7	University of Oklahoma	73	7	171	OK
8	University of Maryland Baltimore	67	15	253	MD
9	University of Pittsburgh	66	6	203	PA
10	Harvard University	65	12	120	MA
11	The University of Iowa	64	15	246	IA
12	Yale University	63	16	180	CT
13	Northwestern University	62	3	175	IL
14	The Trustees of Princeton University	58	9	118	NJ
15	UT Southwestern Medical Center	57	13	188	TX
16	The Ohio State University	56	8	165	OH
17	University of Illinois	53	13	242	IL
18	Indiana University Indianapolis	53	11	184	IN
19	The University of Chicago	52	16	171	IL
20	University of Colorado	50	17	200	CO
21	Mayo Clinic	46	57	371	MN
22	Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska	46	3	166	NE
23	The Curators of the University of Missouri	46	23	152	MO
24	Arizona State University	46	8	130	AZ
25	The Pennsylvania State University	43	1	140	PA
26	University Of Florida	42	32	227	FL
27	University of Minnesota	42	15	190	MN
28	The University Of Tennessee	41	11	149	TN
29	NYU Grossman School of Medicine	40	6	135	NY
30	University of Rochester	40	10	114	NY
31	Emory University	39	21	208	GA
32	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	38	1	107	MA
33	The University of Texas at Austin	37	7	106	TX
34	The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley	35	2	72	TX
35	Weill Cornell Medical College	34	22	136	NY
36	The University of Virginia	34	6	131	VA
37	Texas A&M University	33	7	137	TX
38	Louisiana State University and A&M College	31	5	89	LA
39	University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School	30	12	153	MA
40	The University of Alabama at Birmingham	30	10	152	AL
41	Trustees Of Boston University	30	8	91	MA
42	Georgia Institute of Technology	30	6	79	GA
43	Iowa State University of Science and Technology	30	11	79	IA
44	Duke University	28	17	153	NC
45	University of Utah	28	22	138	UT
46	Purdue University	28	8	117	IN
47	The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center	27	4	111	TX
48	New York University	26	12	83	NY
49	Case Western Reserve University	25	9	80	OH
50	The University of Southern California	24	3	100	CA
51	Texas Tech University	23	6	99	TX
52	Medical College of Wisconsin	23	6	92	WI
53	University of Georgia	23	7	92	GA
54	Research Foundation for the State University of New York	23	3	81	NY
55	The Florida State University	23	2	80	FL
56	Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University	22	7	111	VA
57	Carnegie Mellon University	22	2	81	PA
58	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	22	1	54	TN
59	North Carolina State University	21	1	95	NC
60	Old Dominion University	21	3	53	VA
61	The University of Alabama	21	2	51	AL
62	South Dakota State University	20	1	49	SD
63	Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund	19	11	78	LA
64	Georgetown University	19	4	52	DC
65	University of California, Los Angeles	18	5	157	CA
66	West Virginia University Medical	18	0	78	WV
67	Clemson University	18	8	48	SC
68	University of South Carolina	18	0	45	SC
69	Mississippi State University	18	2	44	MS
70	University of Mississippi	18	1	37	MS
71	University Of Kentucky	17	3	112	KY
72	Albert Einstein College of Medicine	17	0	63	NY
73	University of Notre Dame du Lac	17	5	59	IN
74	University of Nevada, Reno	17	3	57	NV
75	BOR USGA obo Augusta University	17	2	52	GA
76	Kennesaw State University	17	2	39	GA
77	New Mexico State University	17	0	34	NM
78	University of California, Berkeley	16	3	151	CA
79	North Dakota State University	16	2	33	ND
80	West Virginia University	15	4	118	WV
81	University of New Mexico	15	7	77	NM
82	Colorado State University	15	6	64	CO
83	University of Texas Medical Branch	15	7	60	TX
84	University of Houston	15	0	54	TX
85	W.m. Rice University	15	9	53	TX
86	University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences	14	10	113	AR
87	University of South Florida	14	16	67	FL
88	Virginia Commonwealth University	14	1	51	VA
89	Kansas State University	14	8	41	KS
90	University of Arkansas	14	3	35	AR
91	University of Nebraska Medical Center	14	2	34	NE
92	The University of Alabama in Huntsville	14	1	23	AL
93	Arkansas State University	14	0	18	AR
94	The University of Arizona	13	17	90	AZ
95	Oregon State University	13	1	78	OR
96	Temple University--A Commonwealth University	13	3	61	PA
97	Washington State University	13	2	41	WA
98	University of California, Davis	12	1	99	CA
99	Savannah College of Art and Design	12	5	45	GA
100	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	12	0	28	NC

Hospitals and research institutes (often cap-exempt)

Cap-exempt only if nonprofit and affiliated with a university, or a nonprofit or government research organization. Confirm with the employer.

#	Employer	Level I new hires	Level II new hires	All H-1B filings	State
1	General Hospital	71	12	177	MA
2	Dana-Farber Cancer Institute	68	10	154	MA
3	Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	50	10	111	OH
4	Brookhaven National Laboratory	45	34	346	NY
5	Brigham and Women's Hospital	35	10	111	MA
6	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	34	24	243	TN
7	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	33	12	142	NY
8	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	31	0	109	MA
9	Children's Hospital	23	31	128	MA
10	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	23	3	102	CA
11	The Broad Institute	20	4	53	MA
12	The Methodist Hospital Research Institute	18	14	52	TX
13	Henry Ford Health System	16	20	103	MI
14	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories	16	17	59	WA
15	Cleveland Clinic Foundation	15	12	157	OH
16	United Health Services Hospitals	15	6	37	NY
17	Northwell Health	14	10	128	NY
18	Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary	14	1	29	MA
19	The Lawrence Memorial Hospital	13	0	15	KS
20	H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute	12	6	45	FL
21	The Nemours Foundation - Nemours Children's Health	12	1	34	FL
22	The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia	11	8	87	PA
23	Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital	11	0	32	NH
24	Montefiore Medical Center	10	7	147	NY
25	Adventist Health System/Sunbelt	10	5	74	FL
26	The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene	10	1	17	NY
27	The Salk Institute for Biological Studies	10	0	14	CA
28	The Scripps Research Institute	9	6	28	CA
29	Adventist Health System/Sunbelt	9	1	16	FL
30	Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	8	0	40	MA
31	Children's National Medical Center	8	3	37	DC
32	The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital	8	5	36	OH
33	Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare	8	2	22	FL
34	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory	8	0	20	NY
35	Catholic Health System	8	0	18	NY
36	Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research	8	0	13	MA
37	The Children's Hospital of Alabama	8	0	8	AL
38	Environmental Systems Research Institute	7	32	129	CA
39	Boston Medical Center	7	5	45	MA
40	Sanford	7	5	41	ND
41	Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope	7	0	31	CA
42	CHRISTUS Health	7	4	31	TX
43	Ocean Avenue Veterinary Hospital	7	1	9	CA
44	The Jackson Laboratory	6	16	56	ME
45	Corewell Health	6	13	49	MI
46	VCU Health System Authority	6	0	29	VA
47	Frontage Laboratories	6	8	24	PA
48	Benefis Health System	6	1	13	MT
49	Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation	6	1	12	OK
50	Union Hospital	6	0	8	IN
51	Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital	6	0	7	MA
52	Nationwide Children's Hospital	5	8	26	OH
53	UNMC Physicians	5	0	20	NE
54	La Jolla Institute for Immunology	5	2	10	CA
55	St. Mary's Healthcare	5	0	9	NY
56	Deaconess Hospital	5	1	9	IN
57	HMH Hospitals	5	0	8	NJ
58	Jackson Park Hospital Foundation	5	0	8	IL
59	Beacon Health System	5	0	6	IN
60	Carrollton Regional Medical Center	5	0	6	TX

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Frequently asked questions

What is a cap-exempt H-1B employer?

Most H-1B petitions count against the yearly cap and go through the March lottery. Some employers are exempt from the cap: institutions of higher education (universities and colleges), nonprofits affiliated with them (such as many teaching hospitals and research foundations), and nonprofit or government research organizations. They can file an H-1B petition at any time of year, with no lottery.

Which cap-exempt employers hire the most entry-level H-1B workers?

From Oct 2025 - Jun 2026, universities filed 4,700 entry-level (Level I) H-1B applications for new hires, 13% of all entry-level filings. The most came from Washington University (108), University of Michigan (105), The Leland Stanford, Jr University (96), Johns Hopkins University (89), Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania (77).

Is a hospital or research institute always cap-exempt?

No. A hospital or research institute is cap-exempt only if it is a nonprofit affiliated with a university, or a nonprofit or government research organization. The second list here shows employers that often qualify; confirm with the employer's HR or international office before you count on it.

What happens if I later move from a cap-exempt job to a company?

A cap-exempt H-1B lets you work only for cap-exempt employers. Moving to a regular (cap-subject) company later needs a lottery selection, unless you were already counted against the cap before. Many people use a cap-exempt job to stay in the US while they enter the lottery again.

All H-1B sponsors for new grads

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification, LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 - Jun 2026), certified H-1B applications only. “Entry-level new hire” means a Labor Condition Application at prevailing wage Level I for new employment. An LCA is filed before an H-1B petition; it is not a visa approval, and some are never used. Past filings don't promise that a company will sponsor you. Check each job's posting and ask the recruiter.