Country guide · United States

Getting a job in the United States, 2026

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The visa routes that exist, the cap exempt employers most candidates never look for, the weighted lottery that now favours higher salaries, the honest picture of the India green card backlog, and what a US résumé must not contain.

Country guidePublished 20 September 2026·Every figure checked 20 September 2026·14 min read

85,000

H-1B places a year, 65,000 plus the master's exemption

8 U.S.C. 1184(g)

Entries in the lottery at the top wage level since 27 Feb 2026

DHS final rule, 29 Dec 2025

No cap

Universities, affiliated non-profits and research bodies file any month

8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(5)

$215

Registration fee per beneficiary

8 CFR 106.2

Read this before the visa section

Step one is not the visa. Step one is the interview call.

Everything in this guide about permits, thresholds and documents only comes into play after an employer in United States has chosen you. Nobody applies for a work permit without an offer letter, and nobody gets an offer letter without an interview. The order is fixed:

Step 1 · what EDZER does
A strong résumé, a strong LinkedIn, and a job search strategy
Step 2
Interview calls from employers in United States
Step 3
An offer, and the eligibility checks that come with it
Step 4
Only now: the visa, the permit and the documents below

The H-1B lottery caps sponsored hiring at 85,000 places a year and the weighting now favours higher wage levels, so employers that sponsor are choosing carefully. Most US hiring is done through the résumé and an ATS before a person reads anything. Step one is the whole game, and it is the part almost everyone under-invests in.

How a résumé is expected to look in United States

US convention: one page for under ten years, no photograph, no date of birth, no nationality, no marital status. Achievement bullets with numbers. Say whether you will need sponsorship now or in future.

Where people actually apply

USAJOBS (federal) · LinkedIn · Indeed · Glassdoor · ZipRecruiter · Dice (tech)

What EDZER does for step one

Your résumé, rewritten for the country. In the format its recruiters expect, by a human writer, with a 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed
Your LinkedIn profile, rebuilt. Every section written so recruiters searching there find you and read on
Profiles on that country's job portals. Set up and optimised to match, so every application reads the same
A job search strategy document. Which roles, which employers, which portals, in what order, for your profile
An interview prep kit. For the roles you are targeting, so the calls turn into offers
Guidance on where and how to apply for jobs. From our team, so you are not guessing which door to knock on

What EDZER does not do

Visa or work permit applications, or immigration advice of any kind
Document attestation or credential evaluation
Placing you in a job or promising an offer: the recruiter decides selection, on your profile

Our job is to make sure you are presented in the strongest way possible, so that the interview calls come. What happens in the interview is yours.

59,000+ clients across 24+ countries 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed Delivered in 4 to 6 working days 48-hour review window for changes

Start step one for United StatesRésumé, LinkedIn and the interview kit is the Premium plan. With the job portals, Premium Plus. Pick a plan and pay on the next page; the writer starts the same day.

Have a question first? Ask on WhatsApp. For starting the work, the button above is faster.

Section 01

The routes in, the lottery, and what it costs

Free

The United States has no single work visa you can apply for yourself. Almost every route needs an employer to petition for you, and the main one is decided by a lottery. Understanding which door you are standing at matters more here than in any other market on this list.

The routes that actually exist

Route	Who it is for	Cap	Maximum stay
H-1B	Speciality occupation, degree required. Employer petitions.	65,000 plus 20,000 for US master's holders	6 years
H-1B cap exempt	Same, but employed at a university, an affiliated non-profit, or a non-profit or government research organisation	None. No lottery, file any time of year.	6 years
O-1	Extraordinary ability with sustained national or international acclaim	None	Renewable
L-1	Internal transfer after 1 year with a related company abroad in the last 3	None	L-1A 7 years, L-1B 5
TN	Canadian and Mexican citizens in a profession listed under USMCA	None	3 years per entry, no lifetime limit

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Statutory basis: 8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(1)(A) and (g)(5) for the cap and the exemption; 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(L) and 1184(c)(2)(D) for L-1; 9 FAM 402.17 for TN. Checked 20 September 2026.

The single most useful fact in this guide: cap exempt employers

Universities, non-profits affiliated with them (which includes many teaching hospitals), and non-profit or government research organisations are exempt from the H-1B numerical cap under 8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(5). That means no lottery and no filing season: they can petition for you in February or in October, and the petition is adjudicated on its merits. For researchers, physicians and academics this is the most reliable H-1B route that exists, and most candidates never look for it.

The lottery changed, and it now works against junior candidates

A DHS final rule published on 29 December 2025 and effective 27 February 2026 replaced the purely random lottery with a weighted selection. Registrations at the highest prevailing wage level go into the pool four times; the next level three times; the next twice; the lowest once. It applies to both the 65,000 pool and the master's exemption, and was first used in the FY 2027 season.

Section 02

Permanent residence, and the queue nobody tells you about

Free

This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Section 03

Licences, credentials and the American résumé

Free

This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Free ATS check for United States

Not ready to start yet? Get your résumé scored free, and we will tell you exactly what United States recruiters would change.

Takes a minute. Your score comes back on this page. A writer from EDZER reviews the file and follows up on WhatsApp about the résumé and LinkedIn work, nothing else.

Your name

WhatsApp number

Where you live now

Where you want to work (up to 5)

Target role or roles

Experience

Highest qualification

Current designation and employer (if working)

When do you plan to apply?

Your current résumé

Used to score your résumé and for our writers to contact you about the résumé and LinkedIn work for United States. We do not handle visas or immigration. Never sold or shared. Privacy.

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