Does Merck Sponsor H-1B Visas? Research, Manufacturing and Digital Roles in New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Merck's H-1B petitions appear in USCIS data under its US subsidiary, Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC. Here is what its FY2024 record means for your OPT, STEM OPT, H-1B and green card plans.

Part of our guide to companies that sponsor H-1B visas.

Does Merck sponsor H-1B? Yes. Merck's H-1B petitions appear in USCIS data under Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC, a US subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., and the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub shows that entity with 53 initial and 84 continuing H-1B approvals, and zero denials, in FY2024. That makes Merck an established sponsor, not a promise for any one job: it sets sponsorship requisition by requisition, so the posting and the recruiter are your first answer.

Status as of 2026-11-01: wage-weighted H-1B selection is in effect (since 2026-02-27). FY2028 registration is not announced; USCIS must give at least 30 days' notice. The $100,000 H-1B payment is not being collected, because courts blocked the agency policies that implement it (the proclamation itself still stands on paper). The 60-day grace period for H-1B workers still applies; ending it is only proposed. PERM rules are unchanged, and Merck is not among the eight employers in DOL's PERM suspension.

Does Merck sponsor H-1B? The short answer

Merck sponsors H-1B workers through Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC, which USCIS records with 53 initial approvals, 84 continuing approvals and no denials in FY2024. Sponsorship is approved per job, not company-wide, so a strong record does not mean every Merck posting offers it. Read each posting's sponsorship line and ask the recruiter early.

What Merck's FY2024 H-1B numbers say

Source: USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, FY2024 (October 2023 to September 2024), as shown on our Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC employer page.

Most decisions were continuing ones, typical of a long-running sponsor. The 53 initial approvals matter most if you are on OPT, because they show Merck bringing people into new H-1B employment, not only renewing staff.

Three limits apply:

• It is FY2024. It shows a pattern, not today's hiring budget.
• It counts first decisions only. USCIS's Understanding Our H-1B Employer Data Hub page says, "The approval and denial data in the data hub reflects USCIS' first decision."
• It covers one legal name. The Hub groups petitions by employer name and tax ID, so any other Merck entity would appear under its own name.

What is Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC? Merck vs MSD vs Merck KGaA

Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC is the petitioner name you may see on your LCA and approval notice, even though the job ad says "Merck." Merck's boilerplate begins: "At Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada" (Merck third-quarter 2026 results, 2026-10-29).

Common misconception: "Merck is Merck, so any Merck H-1B count applies." Correction: Merck KGaA's US businesses are a different employer with different petitions, so check the full name and city of any "Merck" row.

Already at MSD abroad? An L-1 intracompany transfer has no lottery but generally needs one continuous year with the company abroad within the three years before admission, so it rarely fits straight from OPT; ask an immigration attorney.

Research, manufacturing and digital roles in New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Merck's R&D locations page describes three sites in these two states:

• Rahway, New Jersey: world headquarters and a research campus for core chemistry, preclinical development, and biologics and synthetic chemistry.
• West Point, Pennsylvania: supports "core discovery, preclinical and clinical functional areas" and is Merck's largest US manufacturing facility for pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Merck's US facilities story (2026-10-14) lists a new ADVANCE Bioanalytical Facility there, inaugurated in October 2026 for clinical assay testing.
• Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania: headquarters of the US Human Health division, home to many clinical development and regulatory affairs staff.

The same pages name R&D sites in Boston, Cambridge, South San Francisco and San Diego, and manufacturing investments in Virginia, Delaware and Kansas. Filter Merck's careers site by location, and see our New Jersey pharma and finance H-1B guide for the wider employer map.

For context, BLS reported that health care added 17,000 jobs in September 2026 while total payrolls rose 29,000 (BLS Employment Situation, released 2026-10-02). Drug manufacturing is not in that health care count, so treat it as a labor-market signal, not a Merck one.

For manufacturing, it depends on the job, not the site. The specialty-occupation definition in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(ii) asks whether the job requires at least a bachelor's degree, or its equivalent, in a specific specialty. A West Point validation engineer or QC chemist posting requiring a chemistry or engineering degree maps onto it; a production operator role open to high school graduates usually does not. For biostatistics or statistical programming, compare Merck with CROs in our clinical data scientist sponsorship guide.

How to read the sponsorship line on a Merck posting

Job-board copies of Merck postings found in our early November 2026 search included a "VISA Sponsorship" field, answered Yes on some requisitions and No on others. Merck's own careers site would not load from our location, so we could not confirm the field there; open the live posting and read it yourself.

Two cautions. The field does not say whether "No" also rules out OPT or STEM OPT candidates, so ask the recruiter. And a role marked Yes still needs a lottery selection unless you have already been counted against the H-1B cap.

Does Merck hire OPT students?

It can, but the rules differ by stage. Post-completion OPT needs no employer petition, because your EAD is the authorization; STEM OPT needs employer action; a cap-subject H-1B needs a lottery win.

• STEM OPT: the employer must use E-Verify and sign a Form I-983 training plan. Per the USCIS STEM OPT page, you file up to 90 days before your OPT EAD expires and within 60 days of your DSO's recommendation. The 180-day automatic extension for timely filers is in effect; a STEM I-765 filed after your OPT EAD expires gets no 180 days.
• Unemployment limits are unchanged: 90 days on post-completion OPT, 150 in aggregate with STEM OPT, counted from your OPT start date, per the SEVIS Help Hub.
• Cap-gap covers cap-subject petitions only. A timely change-of-status H-1B extends F-1 status and OPT work authorization to April 1 of the fiscal year requested, or the petition start date if earlier, per the USCIS cap-gap page.
• Contractors are different. If a staffing firm places you at a Merck site, the firm is your employer and decides on sponsorship and the I-983.

How the H-1B lottery works for a Merck offer

Merck is a for-profit company, so a first H-1B with Merck is cap-subject. Since 2026-02-27, USCIS has used wage-weighted selection: a Level IV registration gets four entries and a Level I registration gets one. The level depends on where the offered wage falls among DOL's wage levels for the job and area, so an associate scientist and a senior engineer have different odds. Our wage level and lottery odds guide works through the levels.

FY2028 registration has not been announced. The USCIS registration page still shows the FY2027 window (March 4-19, 2026, $215 per registration); March 2027 is an expectation only. If you already hold cap-subject H-1B status at another employer, moving to Merck is a change-of-employer petition with no new lottery. If your current H-1B is cap-exempt, for example at a university, moving to Merck generally needs a lottery selection unless you were counted against the cap before.

The $100,000 payment does not change this for most OPT candidates: changes of status USCIS grants inside the US were never covered (a denied change of status or a consular-notification petition would be, if collection resumed), and courts have blocked the policies behind it. USCIS's I-129 page says, "If this order is later lifted, DHS still plans to collect the payment."

Worked timeline: an OPT hire at West Point

Suppose you finished a STEM MS in chemical engineering in May 2026, your OPT EAD runs 2026-07-01 to 2027-06-30, and you started a West Point process engineering role marked sponsorship Yes on 2026-09-08, 69 days into OPT and inside the 90-day unemployment limit.

Your DSO confirms cap-gap and STEM OPT dates on your I-20. Our pharmaceutical industry visa sponsorship guide compares other drug makers, and our Eli Lilly H-1B guide shows a peer's posting-level approach.

Does Merck sponsor green cards?

PERM labor certification is a separate decision from H-1B; this guide quotes no Merck PERM count. Check DOL's OFLC performance and disclosure data, where the latest PERM file is FY2026 Q3 (through 2026-06-30). Our PERM lookup guide shows how to search it.

Merck is not among the eight employers in the PERM suspension DOL announced on 2026-10-08 (Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini), and that suspension does not touch H-1B. DOL's PERM labor-market-test proposal (RIN 1205-AC29) cleared White House review on 2026-10-23 but has not been published, so no comment period is open and current PERM rules apply. DOL FLAG showed analyst review at January 2026 priority dates as of 2026-10-21.

USCIS requires the Dates for Filing chart for employment-based I-485s in November, while consular cases always use Final Action Dates; check the USCIS adjustment filing charts page. The December bulletin is not out, so any December date you see is a forecast.

If you already work at Merck on H-1B or STEM OPT

Merck's third-quarter 2026 results include restructuring charges that a footnote says "primarily include employee separation costs" ($184 million on the GAAP "Restructuring costs" line alone), naming no teams or sites. If an H-1B role ends, the discretionary grace period of up to 60 days (or until your authorized stay ends, if sooner) still applies. DHS has proposed eliminating it; comments close 2026-11-10 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the close of comments does not make it final. On STEM OPT, the 150-day unemployment limit governs instead. Talk to an immigration attorney about H-1B options and to your DSO about OPT.

How to check sponsorship for a specific Merck role

1. Search the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub for "Merck Sharp" and confirm the Rahway listing.
2. Open the posting on jobs.merck.com and read its location and "VISA Sponsorship" field.
3. Search DOL's LCA disclosure files on the OFLC performance page for Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC filings matching your title and site.
4. Ask the recruiter in writing whether the requisition supports STEM OPT (E-Verify and Form I-983) and H-1B registration.
5. Confirm OPT dates, STEM OPT filing windows and cap-gap with your DSO before you accept.
6. Ask HR, after an offer, when Merck typically starts PERM.

Common mistakes

• Counting Merck KGaA or EMD rows as Merck. They are a different employer.
• Reading initial approvals as Merck's total new hires. Transfers from other H-1B employers land in the continuing column (our reading of the glossary), so neither column is a clean hiring count.
• Reading "VISA Sponsorship: No" as an H-1B question only. Ask whether it also excludes STEM OPT.
• Waiting past your OPT EAD's end date to file STEM OPT. A late filing gets no 180-day automatic extension.

Frequently asked questions

Does Merck sponsor H-1B visas?

Yes. Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC, the Merck & Co. subsidiary named as petitioner in USCIS data, had 53 initial and 84 continuing H-1B approvals and no denials in FY2024. Sponsorship is still set per requisition, so read each posting and confirm with the recruiter.

What is Merck Sharp and Dohme LLC?

It is the Merck & Co., Inc. subsidiary named as petitioner on Merck's H-1B filings in the USCIS Data Hub, at a Rahway, New Jersey address. Merck & Co. is known as MSD outside the US and Canada. It is not Merck KGaA of Germany, whose US businesses use names such as EMD Serono and MilliporeSigma.

Does Merck hire OPT students?

It can. Post-completion OPT needs no petition, because your EAD is your work authorization. STEM OPT needs an employer enrolled in E-Verify that signs Form I-983, so ask the recruiter whether the role covers it and check OPT timing with your DSO.

Does Merck sponsor green cards?

PERM green card sponsorship is a separate decision from H-1B; check DOL's PERM disclosure files (latest FY2026 Q3) for Merck filings. As of 2026-11-01, Merck is not among the eight employers in DOL's 2026-10-08 PERM suspension, and PERM rules are unchanged.

Does Merck sponsor for manufacturing roles?

It depends on the job. Engineering, quality, validation and bioanalytical roles that require a degree in a specific field fit the H-1B specialty-occupation definition far more readily than operator and technician roles. Read each West Point posting's sponsorship line.

Sources

• USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub and Understanding Our H-1B Employer Data Hub
• USCIS H-1B electronic registration process and USCIS Form I-129
• Federal Register, weighted selection final rule and grace period NPRM
• USCIS STEM OPT, USCIS cap-gap, SEVIS Help Hub unemployment counter, USCIS L-1A
• DOL OFLC performance data, DOL FLAG processing times, USCIS Visa Bulletin filing charts, BLS Employment Situation
• Merck R&D locations, Merck US facilities story, Merck third-quarter 2026 results, Merck careers

How we checked this: FY2024 figures come from the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract behind our employer pages; policy status comes from the USCIS, DOL, BLS and Federal Register pages above, checked as of 2026-11-01; Merck sites and the restructuring footnote come from merck.com pages read in early November 2026. Merck's careers site did not load from our location, so posting details come from job-board copies.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your own I-20, EAD, I-797 and offer letter, and your DSO or immigration attorney, govern your situation.

If Merck is on your list and you are working against an OPT or STEM OPT clock, F1Jobs helps international candidates run a focused search for employers that sponsor H-1B.