Side-by-side comparison

Microsoft Corporation vs COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

A direct H-1B sponsorship comparison built from the same DOL Labor Condition Application data that drives every page on H1B Report. Total filings, outcome rates, top occupations and yearly demand side-by-side.

Summary

Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp and Microsoft Corporation are both major H-1B sponsors with filings tracked from 2010 through 2026. Cognizant leads significantly on volume, with 125,757 total applications filed compared to Microsoft's 70,316—nearly 80% more filings over the same period. Both are headquartered in major tech hubs (Cognizant in Texas, Microsoft in Washington) and have maintained H-1B programs across all years in the dataset.

Cognizant holds a substantial advantage on certification rate, with 53.58% of its applications certified versus Microsoft's 35.21%. Neither employer shows denials in the data, indicating that unresolved cases or withdrawals account for the gap between certified and total filings for both. The difference in certification outcomes suggests variation in application preparation, job classification, or prevailing wage alignment between the two sponsors.

Cognizant vs Microsoft H-1B
H-1B sponsor comparison
Cognizant Technology Solutions H-1B filings
Microsoft H-1B sponsorship
H-1B certification rate comparison

Entity A

Microsoft Corporation

WARank #6FEIN 91-1144442

Entity B

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

TXRank #3FEIN 13-3924155

Key metrics

All percentages are share of total LCAs filed by each sponsor.

Metric	Microsoft Corporation	COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP
Total filings	70,316	125,757▲
Certified %	35.21%	53.58%▲
Denied %	0.00%	0.00%
Withdrawn %	0.00%	0.70%
Cert-withdrawn %	0.12%	0.31%
Rank	#6	#3▲
Active years	FY2010–FY2026	FY2010–FY2026
Worksite state	WA	TX

Outcomes — Microsoft Corporation

DOL case-status mix.

Outcome breakdown
Outcome	Share
Certified	99.7%
Cert-withdrawn	0.3%

Certified99.7%

Cert-withdrawn0.3%

Outcomes — COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

DOL case-status mix.

Outcome breakdown
Outcome	Share
Certified	98.1%
Cert-withdrawn	0.6%
Withdrawn	1.3%

Certified98.1%

Cert-withdrawn0.6%

Withdrawn1.3%

Yearly filing volume

Year-over-year H-1B demand for each sponsor.

Microsoft Corporation

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	4,390
FY2011	4,184
FY2012	3,943
FY2013	3,813
FY2014	3,637
FY2015	4,452
FY2016	4,888
FY2017	4,806
FY2018	5,438
FY2019	5,916
FY2020	51
FY2021	110
FY2022	150
FY2023	2,791
FY2024	9,492
FY2025	9,362
FY2026	2,893

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	1,454
FY2011	2,735
FY2012	1,696
FY2013	1,543
FY2014	2,166
FY2015	3,105
FY2016	4,378
FY2017	2,373
FY2018	12,405
FY2019	25,248
FY2020	3,117
FY2021	10,079
FY2022	13,705
FY2023	15,729
FY2024	11,437
FY2025	11,140
FY2026	3,447

Top 5 occupations — Microsoft Corporation

115-1252Software Developers39,778
215-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers6,325
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other4,610
415-2051Data Scientists3,561
515-2031Operations Research Analysts2,640

Top 5 occupations — COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

115-1299Computer Occupations, All Other64,954
215-1252Software Developers36,791
315-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers4,849
413-1111Management Analysts3,993
515-1211Computer Systems Analysts3,070

Swap an entity

Replace either sponsor above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.

Swap A: Microsoft Corporation

INFOSYS LIMITED TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED Deloitte Consulting LLP WIPRO LIMITED

Swap B: COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP

INFOSYS LIMITED TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED Deloitte Consulting LLP WIPRO LIMITED

Or browse the full sponsor index.

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