Iowa H-1B Jobs: Des Moines Insurers, Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids, and the Ames and Iowa City Campuses

Iowa's sponsor list is short and tilted toward two universities and Collins Aerospace, so knowing which jobs skip the lottery and which need US persons decides where you apply.

Part of our guide to H-1B jobs by state and city.

Iowa H-1B jobs sit in four clusters, and each works differently for an F-1 or OPT candidate. In the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract F1Jobs uses (petitions decided in FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial), the largest sponsor is the University of Iowa in Iowa City (522 petitions). Next come Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids (198 and 155 under two Rockwell Collins spellings), an IT consulting cluster in Des Moines and West Des Moines (Softworld 131, Pioneer Consulting 126, E-Giants 118, Kanap Systems 108) and Iowa State University in Ames (111 and 103 under two names). The two universities are cap-exempt and skip the lottery. Most other Iowa employers, the Des Moines insurers included, are cap-subject, so a first H-1B with them goes through the wage-weighted lottery.

Status as of 2026-11-01. Wage-weighted H-1B selection is in effect (since 2026-02-27); FY2028 registration is not announced (March 2027 is an expectation only). Proclamation 11069's $100,000 H-1B payment is in effect on paper but blocked: courts vacated the agency policies that implement it, those orders are on appeal, and the fee is not being collected. It never covered change-of-status requests USCIS grants inside the US. Iowa House File 2513, which would bar colleges from new contracts with some H-1B holders, passed the Iowa House on 2026-03-03 but is not law. OPT unemployment limits are unchanged: 90 days, or 150 in aggregate on STEM OPT.

Iowa H-1B jobs and sponsors at a glance

Iowa's H-1B market is small and concentrated: 27 employers and 2,317 petitions on the F1Jobs Iowa sponsor page for FY2024 through FY2026 (FY2026 partial). The University of Iowa and Iowa State can file for you in any month with no lottery. Collins Aerospace, the insurers and the IT consulting firms are cap-subject, and some aerospace work is closed to non-US persons.

Iowa's largest H-1B sponsors, USCIS Employer Data Hub extract, as of 2026-11

The four Des Moines H-1B sponsors in the table all file under the Hub's professional, scientific and technical services industry code. Read the table with four caveats:

• Past petitions, not openings. The USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub "has data on the first decisions USCIS makes on petitions for initial and continuing employment." Petition counts add initial and continuing decisions, approvals and denials alike, so an employer that mostly renews staff looks busier than it is for new graduates; the initial-approval column is the better hint at new hiring.
• Add the name rows. Collins and Iowa State each appear under two spellings: 353 and 214 petitions combined (our arithmetic).
• Addresses decide the state. USCIS's guide to the Data Hub aggregates counts "by distinct completion fiscal year, two digit NAICS code, tax ID, state, city, and ZIP code." Deere & Company, a major Iowa manufacturer, is listed under Moline, Illinois, and Corteva Agriscience, which owns the Pioneer seed brand, under Indianapolis, so neither appears on the Iowa page.
• Smaller rows matter. The Iowa sponsor page lists every employer with at least 25 petitions, including Genesis Health System in Davenport (61), Athene Annuity and Life in West Des Moines (54), Maharishi International University in Fairfield (46), Transamerica Life Insurance in Cedar Rapids (44 and 26 under two spellings), MidAmerican Energy (34), Danfoss Power Solutions in Ames (30) and Wellmark (29).

Does Collins Aerospace hire international students?

Collins has a real H-1B record, but it is mostly extensions: in FY2024 its two rows show 16 initial approvals against 132 continuing approvals. The bigger filter is export control. Work that touches controlled defense data can be limited to "US persons," and F-1, OPT and H-1B holders do not qualify.

Under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 CFR 120.62 defines a US person as "a person who is a lawful permanent resident as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20) or who is a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)." That covers citizens, green-card holders and certain refugees and asylees. Releasing controlled technical data to anyone else, even at a desk in Cedar Rapids, counts as an export that needs State Department authorization, so many defense postings simply require US-person status. Our guide to aerospace jobs and ITAR for international students explains this deemed-export rule.

Collins builds systems for commercial and military aircraft, so roles vary:

• Read the requirements. "US person," "export control" or "ITAR" usually settles it. Answer any US-person or citizenship question accurately.
• Target commercial and enterprise roles. Software, data and business-systems work outside controlled programs is where non-US persons have an opening. Our list of defense and aerospace tech roles outside ITAR shows how to spot them, and our look at whether RTX sponsors H-1B reads the sponsorship lines on Collins postings.
• Expect the lottery. Collins is cap-subject, so a first H-1B goes through weighted registration.

Is Des Moines good for insurance and finance jobs on OPT?

For OPT it can be. Des Moines and West Des Moines have a deep base of insurers and financial firms, and post-completion OPT lets you work for any employer in a job directly related to your degree. For H-1B the record is thinner. Principal Financial Group, the city's best-known insurer, is not on the Iowa sponsor page at all, and Athene (54, labelled mostly renewals) and Wellmark (29) sit far below the leaders. Principal may file under another name or address, so search the Hub yourself before assuming anything.

Ask about sponsorship before you spend STEM OPT time at an insurer:

1. Your degree decides STEM OPT, not the job title. The 24-month extension needs a degree whose CIP code is on DHS's STEM Designated Degree Program List, a job related to that degree, and an employer enrolled in E-Verify that signs Form I-983. Our guides to actuarial H-1B sponsorship and insurance jobs in underwriting, claims and risk cover which roles tend to meet the specialty-occupation test.
2. The unemployment clock runs. SEVP's unemployment counter page sets 90 days on post-completion OPT and 150 in aggregate on STEM OPT.
3. Get the H-1B answer in writing. With few insurer rows in the Hub, a clear HR answer on whether the company registers OPT employees in the lottery tells you more than the brand does.

Why a Des Moines salary is weighed against Des Moines wages

Weighted selection gives four entries at Level IV down to one at Level I, and the level is local. USCIS's registration page says registrants must provide "the highest Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage level that the beneficiary's proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code in the area(s) of intended employment."

So a Des Moines analyst offer is measured against Des Moines wages for that occupation, not Chicago's. In our reading, a smaller dollar figure can land at the same level as a bigger coastal offer, or a higher one. Check your SOC code and county on DOL's OFLC wage search before comparing offers; we do not quote Iowa wages because DOL updates them every year. Our explainer on how wage levels change your lottery odds walks through the weighting.

Does Iowa State University sponsor H-1B?

Yes. Iowa State appears under two names (111 and 103 petitions), and the University of Iowa has 522. Both hire new people far more than Collins does: 41 and 93 initial approvals in FY2024. Universities are cap-exempt under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(F), so either can file in any month with no lottery. Whether a given department will sponsor depends on the role, so ask the hiring department early. For a job search in Ames, Iowa State is the anchor; Danfoss Power Solutions (30 petitions, cap-subject) is the only other Ames employer on the Iowa page. The catch with the universities is that cap-exempt petitions get no cap-gap.

USCIS's cap-gap page says the provision "applies only to beneficiaries of cap-subject H-1B petitions, not to beneficiaries of cap-exempt H-1B petitions." If your OPT EAD ends while a university petition is pending, you stop working until the H-1B starts. Our explainer on whether cap-gap applies to cap-exempt H-1Bs works backward from the EAD end date. Also know:

• Leaving re-opens the cap. Move from the university to a cap-subject employer such as Collins and you face the lottery, unless you were counted against the cap before within your six-year period.
• The $100,000 fee is blocked, and it never covered a change of status USCIS grants inside the US. It did hit hiring from abroad: the Congressional Research Service (CRS Insight IN12747, 2026-10-14) reports that initial H-1B petitions for consular processing from cap-exempt employers dropped 91% in the fee's first eight months, compared with the same period a year earlier.
• Cap-exemption rules are unchanged. A draft rule, "Reforming the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program" (RIN 1615-AD00), whose agenda abstract mentions "revising eligibility for cap exemptions," has been under OIRA review since 2026-08-24. Its text is not public.

Iowa House File 2513: passed one chamber, not law

As passed by the House on 2026-03-03, HF 2513 says a private college "shall not enter into an employment contract on or after July 1, 2026, with an individual who is a holder of a valid federal H-1B visa and who is also a citizen of a nation designated as a foreign adversary" by the US Commerce Secretary, or as a state sponsor of terrorism by the Secretary of State. It tells the Board of Regents and community colleges to adopt the same policy, so it would reach the University of Iowa and Iowa State. According to Iowa Public Radio (2026-04-07), the covered countries include China, Russia and Iran.

The bill history shows a 68-27 House vote, a Senate Workforce Committee recommendation to pass on 2026-03-11 and placement on the Senate calendar under unfinished business on 2026-03-26, then no Senate vote and no governor action (checked 2026-11-01). The regular 2026 session has ended, and a new General Assembly convenes in January 2027. Unlike the Texas and Florida university H-1B freezes, it targets nationality rather than all new hires. If your citizenship could be covered, ask the university's international scholars office how it is preparing, and take your own case to an immigration attorney.

Are West Des Moines IT firms safe STEM OPT employers?

Nobody can certify an employer for you, but you can check whether it meets USCIS's STEM OPT employer rules: E-Verify enrollment, a signed Form I-983 training plan and a bona fide employer-employee relationship. Three of the four big Des Moines-area consulting filers sit in West Des Moines, and two of them, E-Giants and Kanap, are labelled mostly renewals, with 1 and 5 initial approvals in FY2024.

USCIS's STEM OPT page says staffing, temporary and consulting firms may employ STEM OPT students "only if they will be the entity that provides the practical training experience to the student," warns that "consulting firm arrangements that provide labor for hire" may not qualify, and says the employer "may not assign, or otherwise delegate, its training responsibilities to a non-employer third party."

Steps to vet an Iowa employer before you accept

1. Search the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub under every spelling, and compare initial and continuing columns by year.
2. Look up the company on E-Verify Employer Search; our walkthrough on checking whether an OPT placement company is E-Verify enrolled covers name mismatches.
3. Check DOL's H-1B debarment list of willful violators.
4. Ask in writing who signs Form I-983, who supervises your training and where you will sit, including any client site.
5. Pull the wage level for your SOC code and Iowa county on the OFLC wage search.
6. Send the offer letter and draft I-983 to your DSO, and report the employer the way your school requires.

For the wider method, see how to find OPT-friendly employers.

A worked timeline: Ames research job or Cedar Rapids software job

Say you finish an Iowa State master's in electrical engineering with a program end date of 2026-12-18, and your OPT EAD runs 2027-02-01 to 2028-01-31 (example dates). USCIS's processing-times tool showed 80% of F-1 student I-765s decided within 5 months (read 2026-11-01), so processing can eat into the start of OPT; your DSO can explain how the filing window works.

Example timeline, two Iowa offers on the same OPT, as of 2026-11

Ames trades lottery risk for a hard deadline; Cedar Rapids trades the deadline for lottery risk and an export-control screen. The dates on your own EAD and I-20 govern.

Common mistakes

• Counting one name row. Collins and Iowa State each appear twice.
• Reading petitions as openings. A mostly-renewals employer may hire few new graduates; check initial approvals.
• Assuming a university job comes with cap-gap. It does not.
• Skipping export-control language. "US persons only" excludes F-1, OPT and H-1B holders.
• Treating HF 2513 as law, or ignoring it. It passed one chamber.
• Taking a consulting STEM OPT offer without knowing who trains you. The I-983 signer must be your employer, not the client.
• Assuming Iowa pay means a weak lottery entry. The level is set against local wages.
• Confusing names. Pioneer Consulting LLC is not Corteva's Pioneer seed brand.

Frequently asked questions

Which companies sponsor H-1B in Iowa?

In the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract F1Jobs uses (FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial), the largest are the University of Iowa (522 petitions), Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids (198 and 155 under two spellings), four Des Moines-area consulting firms (Softworld 131, Pioneer Consulting 126, E-Giants 118, Kanap Systems 108) and Iowa State University in Ames (111 and 103 under two names). These are past decisions, not open jobs.

Does Collins Aerospace hire international students?

Collins files H-1B petitions in Cedar Rapids, mostly to extend existing staff. In FY2024 its two Data Hub rows show 16 initial and 132 continuing approvals. Some aerospace and defense roles involve export-controlled data and are limited to US persons, which F-1, OPT and H-1B holders are not, so read each posting's export-control language before you apply.

Is Des Moines good for insurance and finance jobs on OPT?

For OPT it can be. Des Moines has a deep insurance and financial-services job base, and post-completion OPT allows work for any employer in a job directly related to your degree, with up to 90 days of unemployment. The H-1B record is thinner. Principal Financial Group is not on the F1Jobs Iowa sponsor page, and Athene (54) and Wellmark (29) sit far below the leaders, so ask about sponsorship early.

Does Iowa State University sponsor H-1B?

Yes. It appears under two names in the Hub extract, with 111 and 103 petitions for FY2024 through FY2026 (FY2026 partial). As a university it is cap-exempt, so there is no lottery and it can file in any month, but there is no cap-gap either, so the H-1B has to start before your OPT EAD ends or work stops. Iowa House File 2513 passed the Iowa House on 2026-03-03, but the Senate has not voted on it and it is not law.

Are West Des Moines IT firms safe STEM OPT employers?

No article can certify an employer. Under the USCIS STEM OPT rules the employer must be enrolled in E-Verify, sign your Form I-983 and keep a bona fide employer-employee relationship with you, and it may not delegate your training to a client. Check the firm on E-Verify Employer Search and the Data Hub, and ask your DSO to review the I-983 before you start.

Sources

• USCIS, H-1B Employer Data Hub and Understanding our H-1B Employer Data Hub
• USCIS, H-1B electronic registration process
• Federal Register, weighted selection final rule
• USCIS, STEM OPT extension and cap-gap extension
• USCIS, Form I-129 (status of the $100,000 payment)
• SEVP, unemployment counter
• USCIS, processing times
• 22 CFR 120.62, definition of US person
• Iowa Legislature, House File 2513 as passed by the House and bill history
• Iowa Public Radio, GOP lawmakers look to limit which H-1B visa holders get hired at Iowa colleges (2026-04-07)
• DOL, H-1B debarment list and OFLC wage search
• E-Verify, Employer Search
• Congressional Research Service, Insight IN12747, H-1B Executive Actions in 2026 (2026-10-14)

How we checked this: we read the USCIS, SEVP, DOL, E-Verify and Iowa Legislature pages above, the text and bill history of HF 2513, 22 CFR 120.62 and CRS Insight IN12747 on 2026-11-01 and 2026-11-02, and took every employer figure from the F1Jobs extract of the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub (FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial).

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your own I-20, EAD, I-94 and notices govern, so take OPT and SEVIS questions to your DSO and petition or status strategy to a licensed immigration attorney.

If you are finishing at Iowa State or the University of Iowa and want a target list built around cap-exempt timing, export-control screens and real sponsor records, F1Jobs can help you run that search.