Will You Now or in the Future Require Sponsorship? 3,207 of 3,795 AI Job Forms Ask It (Oct. 27, 2026)
85% of the AI company job applications we opened ask it: on October 27, 2026, 3,207 of 3,795 application forms on 19 AI company career boards asked whether you will need visa sponsorship, and every one of those questions was required. Most used the same words you are searching for: on 2,814 of those 3,207 forms, the question said “now or in the future.”
Here is the part that surprised us. The form asks you, but the job posting mostly does not tell you what the company does. Of 3,795 open postings we read the same day, 3,076 said nothing about sponsorship at all. Only Anthropic’s postings say, in plain words, that it sponsors visas.
Below: which companies ask, the exact wording they use, which forms let you say “I don’t know,” and what three companies with no such question on the form have in common.
What we checked on October 27, 2026
- Application forms: we opened the form behind every open job on 19 AI company boards through the employers’ public Greenhouse and Ashby feeds, 3,795 forms in all, and read every question label. All of them could be read.
- Posting text: we read the description of all 3,795 open postings on the same boards and pulled every sentence with “sponsor,” “visa” or “immigration.” Each sentence was read by eye, because “executive sponsor” and “event sponsorships” are not about visas.
- Answer choices: we opened one form per wording at Waymo, Anthropic, Nuro, OpenAI, Cursor, Sierra, Perplexity, Mercor, 1X, Replit and Cohere to read the answer buttons. We did not read the choices on every form.
- Google DeepMind’s US board, the 20th in our daily list, returned an error (HTTP 404) and is not counted.
- This is a count of what forms ask, not immigration or legal advice. We did not apply to any job.
Written and checked by Prof. H. An AI assistant helped draft this piece and run the page reads; every quote was read on the source’s own page on October 27, 2026.
How many AI company job applications ask about visa sponsorship?
On October 27, 2026, 3,207 of 3,795 AI company application forms (85%) asked whether you need visa sponsorship, at 16 of the 19 companies whose boards we read. At OpenAI, the largest board, it was 790 of 796 forms.
The table shows each company. The last column counts forms where the question itself used the words “in the future.”
| Company | Forms read | Ask about sponsorship | Say “in the future” |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1X | 102 | 102 (100%) | 102 |
| Agility Robotics | 69 | 69 (100%) | 69 |
| Sierra | 210 | 210 (100%) | 210 |
| OpenAI | 796 | 790 (99%) | 790 |
| Perplexity | 132 | 131 (99%) | 131 |
| Cursor | 124 | 123 (99%) | 123 |
| Nuro | 97 | 96 (99%) | 96 |
| Waymo | 367 | 361 (98%) | 0 |
| xAI | 308 | 300 (97%) | 276 |
| Anthropic | 679 | 658 (97%) | 651 |
| Replit | 36 | 34 (94%) | 34 |
| Mercor | 108 | 95 (88%) | 95 |
| Scale AI | 166 | 146 (88%) | 146 |
| Apptronik | 84 | 70 (83%) | 70 |
| Cohere | 116 | 21 (18%) | 20 |
| Physical Intelligence | 44 | 1 (2%) | 1 |
| Cognition | 105 | 0 (0%) | 0 |
| ElevenLabs | 149 | 0 (0%) | 0 |
| Figure AI | 103 | 0 (0%) | 0 |
Waymo shows zero in the last column for a reason: on 302 of its forms the question is labeled just “Work Authorization,” and the future part sits in an answer choice, “I require, or in the future will require, Waymo’s sponsorship.” We count it as a sponsorship question because that is what the choice asks.
What does “now or in the future” mean on a job application?
It means the employer wants to know about later, not only today: Carnegie Mellon University’s international office, in guidance we read October 27, 2026, tells F-1 students to answer yes “because you will require work authorization once your student immigration status ends.” A student on OPT may be allowed to work today and still need an employer to sponsor them later.
The same CMU page puts it more bluntly for a related question: statuses without permanent work authorization “will have to answer yes.” That is one university’s guidance for its own students. Your answer depends on your own status, which we cannot judge.
What sponsorship involves on the employer side is public. The USCIS page on H-1B specialty occupations, last reviewed September 21, 2026, says “the employer or agent should file Form I-129” and that the H-1B cap is 65,000 new statuses or visas each fiscal year, while another 20,000 petitions for people with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. school are exempt from that cap. Both facts help explain why the question sits near the top of so many forms.
The wording is not identical everywhere, and small differences change what you are being asked:
- Country named in the question. OpenAI asks about “this country,” Cursor about “the country where this position is located.” Sierra writes the country into the question, and 90 of its sponsorship questions named a country other than the United States, such as the United Kingdom or Canada.
- Asked twice. On 628 of 679 Anthropic forms, the form asked two sponsorship questions: a short “Do you require visa sponsorship?” and a longer “now or in the future” version. Across all boards, 728 forms had two or more.
- Paired with a separate authorization question. 1,687 forms also asked a separate question about whether you are authorized to work, which is a different question from whether you need sponsorship.
Can you answer “not sure” on the sponsorship question?
Only at Waymo, among the forms we opened by hand on October 27, 2026: its choices include “My status to work in the country in which this position is based is unknown,” while the other companies we checked offered only yes or no. Waymo’s second version of the question has a “Yes, No, Unknown” menu and a follow-up that lists CPT, OPT, TN and J-1.
Most of the other forms are stricter. On Ashby boards such as OpenAI, Cursor, Perplexity, Mercor and 1X, the question is a single yes-or-no switch; 1,281 sponsorship questions across all boards used that switch. Anthropic, Nuro and Sierra use a menu, but the only choices on the forms we opened were Yes and No.
Waymo’s form also says what happens after an offer: “Upon hire, all employees are required to submit proof of legal right to work,” and the note adds that Waymo participates in E-Verify. Our reading: the answer you give on the form gets checked against documents later, so an answer that is wrong today does not stay hidden.
Which AI companies say in the job posting that they sponsor visas?
Only Anthropic says so in plain words: on October 27, 2026, 674 of its 679 open postings included the line “We do sponsor visas!”, while 3,076 of 3,795 postings across the 19 boards said nothing about sponsorship. The Anthropic text adds a limit. It says Anthropic is not able to sponsor visas “for every role and every candidate,” and that it will make every reasonable effort after an offer, with an immigration lawyer on retainer.
The postings that say no are a narrow group, not regular engineering jobs:
- xAI, 22 postings: all are remote international AI Tutor roles, each with the sentence “We are unable to provide visa sponsorship.” One more xAI posting, a recruiting coordinator job in Memphis, says sponsorship is “available for exceptional candidates.”
- Scale AI, 8 postings: all are fellow roles in its Human Frontier Collective, saying it does not sponsor visas for fellows or for the role. Another 9 Scale AI postings describe visa help for jobs based in Qatar.
- Anthropic, 5 postings: fellowship postings that say Anthropic is “not currently able to sponsor visas for fellows.”
Everyone else is silent in the posting. OpenAI, Waymo, Sierra, Perplexity and the rest ask the question on the form but do not state a policy in the description. We did not check government filing data on which of these employers actually file visa petitions, so we make no claim about that here.
Which three AI companies left the sponsorship question off the form?
Cognition (0 of 105 forms), ElevenLabs (0 of 149) and Figure AI (0 of 103) had no sponsorship question on any application form on October 27, 2026; Physical Intelligence had it on 1 of 44. Figure AI asked a work authorization question on 5 forms instead, and Cognition and ElevenLabs on none.
Do not read that as a policy. A short form only tells you what the company asks before a person reviews you. The question may come up in a recruiter call, and none of these three postings says whether the company sponsors. Our inference is that the shortest forms push this question to a later stage, but we could not see that stage.
Before you answer the sponsorship question on an AI job form
Five checks take a few minutes, and each comes from something we saw on the 3,795 forms and 3,795 postings read October 27, 2026. None of them is legal advice; they help you read the question you are actually being asked.
- Read which country the question names. “This country” or “the country where the job is located” can mean the UK or Canada if that is where the role sits.
- Search the posting for “visa” before you apply. If it says nothing, that is normal; 81% of postings said nothing.
- Check whether your status ends. “Now or in the future” covers work permission with an end date. Your school’s international office, like Carnegie Mellon’s Office of International Education, is the place to ask.
- Answer truthfully. Waymo’s form says proof of the right to work is required on hire, and every question we found was required, so you cannot skip it.
- Get case-specific help from an expert. An immigration attorney or your school’s designated school official can speak to your situation. We cannot.
We are not recruiters or lawyers. We take no money from employers, and postings can close at any time; the employer’s official page wins. Never pay anyone who promises a “guaranteed” visa job, never deposit a check and send money back, a text message is not a job offer, and apply only on the employer’s own site. More at the Jobs Desk sources.
More boxes we counted on these same AI company forms
The sponsorship question is one of many we have counted on these boards. Each of these pieces opens the same kind of forms for a different box:
- Do job applications ask for GPA — how many forms ask about grades.
- Do you need a LinkedIn to apply for jobs — whether the LinkedIn field is required.
- Do job applications still ask for references — reference fields on AI company forms.
- Can you use AI on job applications — the rules forms set for AI tools.
- Should you answer voluntary self-identification — the gender, race and veteran questions.
- What to put for desired salary — the salary box.
- Do you need a cover letter — how often the upload is optional.
- How to answer why do you want to work here — essay questions on the form.
- Can you opt out of AI resume screening — whether a person or a model reads first.
- Why remote jobs have location requirements — why remote roles still name a country.
- What relocation assistance means — what moving help covers.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience — the degree line in postings.
- What remote-friendly means at Anthropic — how Anthropic’s location policy reads.
- Is Waymo hiring — one board in detail.
- How to get a job at OpenAI or Anthropic — the two biggest boards in our count.
Every open role on these boards is on our jobs board, where you can browse every open role and apply on the employer’s site. Daily counts are on the AI jobs tracker. Have a question about your search? Ask the Jobs Desk.
What else do applicants want to know about the sponsorship box?
What does it mean when a job asks if you need sponsorship?
It asks whether the employer would have to file immigration paperwork for you to work in that country, today or later. For the U.S. H-1B visa, USCIS says the employer or agent files Form I-129 (USCIS page last reviewed September 21, 2026). On October 27, 2026, 3,207 of the 3,795 AI company application forms we opened asked this.
Should I say yes to sponsorship if I am on OPT?
We do not give immigration advice, and your own status decides the answer. Carnegie Mellon University tells its F-1 students to answer yes, because they will require work authorization once their student immigration status ends (page read October 27, 2026). Ask your school international office or an immigration attorney about your case.
Does Anthropic sponsor visas?
Its postings say it does. On October 27, 2026, 674 of 679 Anthropic job postings said: We do sponsor visas. The same text says Anthropic cannot sponsor every role and every candidate. 5 fellowship postings said it is not currently able to sponsor visas for fellows.
Is the sponsorship question required on job applications?
On the AI company forms we read, yes. On all 3,207 forms where we found it on October 27, 2026, the sponsorship question was marked required, so you cannot leave it blank.
Do all AI companies ask about visa sponsorship on the application?
No. On October 27, 2026, Cognition asked it on 0 of 105 forms, ElevenLabs on 0 of 149 and Figure AI on 0 of 103. A missing question on the form does not tell you the company policy; it may come up later with a recruiter.
Sources
- Application forms and posting text of every open job on 19 AI company boards, read through the employers’ public Greenhouse and Ashby feeds on October 27, 2026. Examples: an OpenAI form, an Anthropic form, a Waymo form.
- H-1B Specialty Occupations, USCIS, last reviewed September 21, 2026; read October 27, 2026.
- Job Applications that Ask About Work Authorization, Carnegie Mellon University Office of International Education; read October 27, 2026 (no update date shown on the page).
- “How to Fill Out An H-1B Registration – Demonstration”, USCIS, published March 5, 2026; “OPT Overview: What is OPT?”, UW International Student Services, published September 19, 2022; both checked October 27, 2026.
Next check: we will count the sponsorship question again on these boards in late January 2027 and note any company that changes its wording or answer choices.
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