Jobs that say they sponsor visas.
How to find job postings and employers that offer visa sponsorship in the US and Canada by API, and how that differs from H-1B and LMIA government data.
Updated
The short answer
The Jobs API reads visa sponsorship from each posting’s own words. On /v1/jobs, the derived visa_sponsorship value is filled only when the posting states it. To find employers, /v1/organizations?states_visa_sponsorship=true returns companies with at least one open job that says it offers sponsorship. Government data, like US H-1B records and Canada’s LMIA list, shows past approvals, not today’s jobs.
Where does sponsorship data come from?
There are two kinds. Government data shows which employers were approved to hire foreign workers in the past: H-1B records in the US and the positive LMIA list in Canada.
Job postings show what an employer says today, in one job. Some say they sponsor visas, some say they do not, and most say nothing. We keep those three cases apart.
How do I find jobs that offer sponsorship?
Every job on /v1/jobs includes a derived section, read by rules from the posting’s own title and description. visa_sponsorship is filled only when the posting states it. If the posting says nothing, the value is empty, not “no.”
curl "https://api.thejobsapi.com/v1/jobs?country=US&title=software%20engineer&q=%22visa%20sponsorship%22&description=text" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"The q search finds the words; the derived value tells you whether the posting offers sponsorship or refuses it. Check both before you show a job as sponsoring.
How do I find employers that sponsor?
Use states_visa_sponsorship=true on company search. It returns companies where at least one open job says it offers visa sponsorship. In Canada, add has_lmia=true for companies on the government’s positive LMIA list in the last two years.
curl "https://api.thejobsapi.com/v1/organizations?country=US&states_visa_sponsorship=true" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"What about H-1B data?
US Citizenship and Immigration Services publishes the H-1B Employer Data Hub, with approvals and denials by employer and year. The Department of Labor publishes labor condition application data with job titles and wages.
Those records show which employers filed before. They do not list today’s open jobs. A good approach is to use the government data to pick employers, then use our job postings to see what they are hiring for now and what each posting says about sponsorship.
Can I trust a “sponsorship” mention?
- Read the sentence. “We do not sponsor visas” contains the word visa too. The derived value separates offers from refusals; a plain word search does not.
- Many postings never mention it, even at employers that do sponsor.
- Policies change. A posting reflects one job at one time.
What does it cost?
The US is $900 USD a month, Canada is $200 USD a month, and both are $1,100 USD a month, with no job or request limit. The free trial lasts 14 days and includes 100,000 jobs from the US and Canada, with no request limit. You do not need a card. The trial shows a sample of the company directory.
Questions people ask
Is there an API for H-1B sponsor jobs?
Government H-1B data covers past filings, not open jobs. Use it to pick employers, then use a jobs API for their current postings.
How do you know a job offers sponsorship?
Only from the posting’s own text. We read it by rules and fill visa_sponsorship only when the posting states it.
Does an empty value mean no sponsorship?
No. It means the posting did not say. Many employers that sponsor never mention it in the job ad.
Can I filter companies by sponsorship?
Yes. states_visa_sponsorship=true on /v1/organizations returns companies with at least one open job that offers sponsorship.
Does this cover Canada?
Yes. Canadian jobs are read the same way, and has_lmia=true finds employers on the positive LMIA list.
Do you give immigration advice?
No. We provide job and employer data only. Talk to a licensed immigration lawyer or consultant for advice.