How the likelihood score works
The score sums up public evidence about how often an employer actually sponsors workers. It is an index from 0 to 100, not a probability: a score of 80 does not mean an 80% chance of sponsorship.
The evidence it uses
- Recent sponsorship volume (35%): US H-1B petition approvals in the two most recent fiscal years, or Canadian approved LMIA positions in the four most recent quarters, on a scale that rises quickly and then levels off.
- Consistency over time (20%): in how many of the loaded fiscal years or quarters the employer had approvals.
- Job posts that offer sponsorship (20%): live posts on the employer's own job board that say sponsorship is offered (full marks at 3). Only counted when we track that employer's job board.
- On a current official list (15%): approvals in the latest period (US, Canada), or a current licence on the Home Office register (UK, scored by route and rating).
- Approval rate (10%, US only): share of the employer's H-1B petitions approved, trusted in full only from 10 decisions.
Missing data
Missing evidence is never counted as zero. If a piece of evidence does not exist for an employer (for example, we do not track its job board, or its country publishes no approval rates), it is left out and its weight is shared among the evidence that does exist.
When what remains cannot support a fair score, we show "Insufficient data for a reliable sponsorship assessment" instead of a number. That applies to UK employers with only a licence (the register shows who may sponsor, not how often they do) until their job posts show they sponsor, and to employers not on any current official list.
Labels
High is 65 or more, Medium 40 to 64, Low below 40. Every score comes with a one-line reason naming the figures, periods and sources behind it.
Facts and estimates
Counts, periods, licence details and job post wording on SponsoredStamp are facts copied from official sources and employers' job boards, with their source and date. The likelihood score and its label are our estimate built from those facts. The score has not been calibrated against real hiring outcomes.
Limits
- US figures count approved petitions, not visas issued or people hired. Canadian figures count approved LMIA positions, not work permits.
- Government data is published with a delay (Canada about three months; US quarterly).
- We match records to employers by exact name within each country. Subsidiaries and spelling differences can split one employer into several, or rarely join two small employers with the same name.
- A high score does not mean an employer will sponsor you. The employer decides who to hire, and the government decides on every visa.
See every source, its licence and when we last loaded it on the data sources page.
Public information, not immigration advice. Not a guarantee of sponsorship.