Omaha and Nebraska H-1B Jobs: Kiewit, HDR, Mutual of Omaha, Union Pacific and UNMC

Nebraska's H-1B market is small but concentrated in engineering, insurance, rail and academic medicine, and its best path for some graduates skips the lottery entirely.

Omaha H-1B jobs cluster in four places: engineering and design (HDR, Kiewit), insurance and banking (Mutual of Omaha, Physicians Mutual, First National Bank of Omaha), rail (Union Pacific) and academic medicine (UNMC, Creighton). In the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract F1Jobs uses (petitions for FY2024 through FY2026, with FY2026 partial), the Nebraska sponsor page lists 22 employers and 1,596 petitions, and the Omaha metro page lists 18 employers and 1,109. The largest are the University of Nebraska Medical Center (277 petitions, plus 82 under a second spelling), HDR Engineering (207, plus 61 at HDR Architecture), Kiewit Engineering Group (159), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (139) and Mutual of Omaha (121). The market is small, so the universities, which generally skip the lottery, matter more here than in a big tech metro.

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 on its registration page. Proclamation 11069 is in effect on paper, but the $100,000 payment is blocked: courts vacated the agency policies that implement it, appeals are pending, and change-of-status and extension requests granted inside the US were never covered (see the USCIS I-129 page). Ending the 60-day grace period for H-1B and other workers is only proposed; comments close 2026-11-10, and until a final rule is published the current 60 days applies. OPT unemployment limits are unchanged.

Which companies in Omaha sponsor H-1B?

Omaha's largest H-1B sponsors in the FY2024-FY2026 Hub extract are HDR Engineering (207 petitions), Kiewit Engineering Group (159), Mutual of Omaha (121) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (277 and 82 under two spellings). Statewide, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln adds 139. Banks, insurers, Union Pacific and Creighton University sit below them.

Omaha and Nebraska H-1B sponsors, USCIS Employer Data Hub extract, petitions FY2024-FY2026 (FY2026 partial), as of 2026-11

The Omaha page also lists First National Bank of Omaha, Physicians Mutual, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Creighton University, Union Pacific Railroad, Gallup, Kiewit Corporation, Werner Enterprises, The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC Physicians and Alegent Creighton Clinic. ACI Worldwide (Elkhorn) and Ameritas (Lincoln) appear on the state page. Read the numbers with three caveats:

• Petitions are not openings. Each count adds approvals and denials, new hires and renewals, over three fiscal years. Each employer page splits initial from continuing employment by year, which tells you whether a company sponsors new people or mainly renews staff.
• Names split. The Hub stores the name as filed. The larger UNMC record is coded to a Lincoln address, so the Omaha page shows only the 82-petition spelling; together they total 359 (our arithmetic). HDR Engineering and HDR Architecture are separate petitioners (268 together, our arithmetic). Search every variant on the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub.
• There is a floor. The hub pages list employers with at least 25 petitions in the window, so smaller sponsors are missing.

Does Kiewit sponsor H-1B for engineers?

Yes, on the record. Kiewit Engineering Group has 159 petitions in the extract, and Kiewit Corporation is listed on the Omaha page under its own name. Both are private, cap-subject employers, so a first H-1B goes through the weighted lottery, and more of Kiewit Engineering Group's petitions continue existing H-1B employment than start new ones.

The petitioner is whichever entity is named on your offer letter, so search that exact name. Design roles (structural, civil, mechanical, electrical) tie most directly to a specific engineering degree. Field, project and estimating roles at a contractor need the link between your degree and the duties spelled out, which our construction management H-1B guide works through.

HDR follows the same logic: HDR Engineering (207) and HDR Architecture (61) file separately, both cap-subject. For either firm, licensure is the long game. Our guide to civil engineering visa sponsorship and the PE license explains how the EIT-to-PE path works on OPT and H-1B.

Does Mutual of Omaha sponsor H-1B?

Yes: 121 petitions in the extract, the largest private sponsor outside engineering and design. Its year-by-year split shows that most of those petitions continue existing H-1B employment, so ask early whether a role is open to first-time sponsorship. Omaha's insurance and banking cluster (Mutual of Omaha, Physicians Mutual, First National Bank of Omaha, and Ameritas in Lincoln) is where to look for actuarial, data and software roles; Physicians Mutual and First National Bank of Omaha also show renewal-heavy records. Our actuary H-1B sponsorship guide covers how exam progress and job titles interact with sponsorship.

Does Union Pacific hire international graduates?

Union Pacific is headquartered in Omaha, and Union Pacific Railroad appears on the Omaha page with 39 petitions, but its filings in the extract lean heavily toward renewals and transfers of people already on H-1B. First-time sponsorship there looks uncommon on the record, not impossible. Werner Enterprises, the trucking company, shows the same renewal-heavy pattern.

Before you apply, check which job titles Union Pacific has filed Labor Condition Applications for in DOL's disclosure files on the OFLC performance page, where the latest files run through FY2026 Q3. If you will need STEM OPT, confirm with HR that the hiring entity is enrolled in E-Verify before you accept.

Is UNMC cap-exempt for H-1B?

Generally yes, for UNMC's own petitions. UNMC is part of the public University of Nebraska, and USCIS's H-1B specialty occupations page says workers "petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education" are not subject to the annual cap. That means no lottery and filing at any time of year. The entity on your offer letter decides it.

The same logic covers the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska Omaha and Creighton, a private university. It does not automatically cover every employer near campus. The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC Physicians and Alegent Creighton Clinic file under their own names. A related or affiliated nonprofit can qualify under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(F): since 2025-01-17, a written affiliation agreement works where "a fundamental activity" of the nonprofit supports the university's mission. Whether a given hospital or physician group meets that test is its own immigration counsel's call, not yours.

Three more things to know:

• No cap-gap. Cap-exempt petitions get no cap-gap extension, so the H-1B has to start before your OPT EAD ends. Our explainer on whether cap-gap applies to cap-exempt H-1Bs walks through the dates.
• Hiring from abroad dropped. The Congressional Research Service (IN12747, 2026-10-14) reports that in the $100,000 fee's first eight months, initial H-1B petitions for consular processing from cap-exempt employers fell 91% from the same period a year earlier. The fee is blocked as of 2026-11-01, and a change of status granted inside the US was never covered.
• A pending rule, labelled. "Reforming the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program" (RIN 1615-AD00) has been under OIRA review since 2026-08-24. Its agenda abstract mentions "revising eligibility for cap exemptions"; no text is public and the current cap-exemption rules apply.

Our guide to which hospitals are cap-exempt explains how university-affiliated hospitals and clinics qualify.

Cap-exempt or not? Omaha offer scenarios (as of 2026-11)

Is Omaha a good city for new grads on OPT?

For civil, structural and construction engineering, insurance and actuarial analytics, and academic medicine, Omaha is a focused market with lower living costs than the coastal tech hubs; for general software roles its sponsor list is thin. A 2026 ranking by the background-check company Checkr reportedly placed Omaha among the top large cities for new graduates. Plan on a targeted list, not volume applying.

National postings point the same way. Indeed Hiring Lab's 2026-10-22 snapshot put its engineering postings index near 145 and healthcare near 131, while software development sat near 78-79, the lowest of the five categories it charted. Those are national figures, but engineering and healthcare are also where Omaha's largest sponsors sit.

Keep the OPT rules in view: the SEVIS Help Hub's unemployment counter page still allows 90 days on post-completion OPT and 150 days in aggregate on STEM OPT. STEM OPT needs an E-Verify employer and a Form I-983, and the USCIS STEM OPT page still provides a 180-day automatic extension for timely filers.

Do Omaha's lower costs offset its smaller employer base?

Partly. Lower living costs stretch a salary further, and, in our reading, the weighted lottery does not penalize a lower local salary by itself. What you give up is depth: fewer sponsors means fewer offers to compare and fewer places to move if a job ends.

Nebraska and its neighbours on our state sponsor pages (employers with 25+ petitions, FY2024-FY2026, FY2026 partial)

On the lottery side, the weighted selection final rule says that "on the registration, the registrant must select 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," and "a beneficiary assigned wage level IV will be entered into the selection pool four times," down to once for Level I.

The BLS OEWS area definitions (May 2025) put Omaha in the "Omaha, NE-IA" area: Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders and Washington counties in Nebraska, plus Harrison, Mills and Pottawattamie counties in Iowa. Lincoln (Lancaster and Seward counties) is a separate area with its own wage table. Our reading: because the level is measured against local pay, a lower Omaha salary is not automatically a lower lottery weight. Check your occupation in the OFLC wage search on FLAG rather than comparing dollar figures across cities.

Two cautions. DOL's prevailing-wage rule (RIN 1205-AC30), which would lift Level I from the 17th to the 34th percentile, is proposed, with no final rule as of 2026-11-01. And a job split between an Omaha office and a Lincoln home involves two wage tables; ask the employer's attorney how the level is chosen. Our cost of living vs H-1B salary comparison works through the purchasing-power side. Council Bluffs is in Pottawattamie County, so a worksite there uses the same Omaha, NE-IA table; our Kansas City guide explains how the LCA's commuting area works in a two-state metro.

Omaha decision check (as of 2026-11)

What if you are laid off on H-1B in a market this size?

The current discretionary grace period of up to 60 days applies. With 18 employers on the Omaha page, that window is tight, so keep a list of sponsors in Kansas City, Des Moines (our Iowa guide) and Minneapolis as well. The proposal to eliminate it (RIN 1615-AD22) drew about 27,000 comments by 2026-11-01 and closes 2026-11-10; it is a proposal, not a rule. It covers H-1B and other worker categories, not the separate F-1 grace period after OPT. Our explainer on the DHS grace-period proposal covers what would change, and an immigration attorney should advise on your own dates.

A worked timeline: two Omaha offers, one OPT clock

Say you finish a STEM-designated master's in May 2026, with an OPT EAD valid 2026-07-01 to 2027-06-30, and you hold two offers: a data analyst role at Mutual of Omaha (cap-subject) and a research data analyst role at UNMC (cap-exempt). Dates after today are illustrative.

If the UNMC date is tight, the employer can request premium processing with Form I-907: $2,965 for most I-129s since 2026-03-01 on the G-1055 fee schedule, and 15 business days for most I-129 classifications per USCIS's premium processing page. A USCIS rule titled "Amending the Premium Processing Timeframe" (RIN 1615-AD25) has been under OIRA review since 2026-10-13; its text is not public, so today's timeframes apply. Check the live USCIS processing times tool rather than relying on any published estimate.

How to find Omaha H-1B jobs: build your sponsor list

1. Open the Nebraska and Omaha sponsor pages and pull every employer in your field, including Lincoln names.
2. Search each name and its variants (two UNMC spellings, two HDR entities, two Kiewit entities) on the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub to see initial versus continuing approvals by year.
3. Check job titles and worksites in DOL's LCA disclosure files on the OFLC performance page.
4. Look up the prevailing-wage level for your occupation code in FLAG, using the Omaha, NE-IA or Lincoln, NE area.
5. Verify E-Verify enrollment before you accept any role you will need for STEM OPT.
6. Ask each recruiter, in writing, whether the role is open to sponsorship and which legal entity would file the petition.
7. Take OPT, SEVIS and STEM OPT questions to your DSO, and cap-exempt or petition questions to the employer's immigration attorney.

Common mistakes

• Searching one spelling. UNMC splits across two Hub names, and HDR and Kiewit each have two filing entities.
• Assuming every hospital near UNMC is cap-exempt. Each entity's status depends on its own nonprofit and affiliation facts.
• Expecting cap-gap on a university petition. Cap-exempt petitions get none; time the start date against your EAD.
• Treating renewal-heavy employers as new-grad sponsors. Union Pacific's and Mutual of Omaha's records lean toward continuing employment, so ask early.
• Comparing salaries across cities without wage levels. The lottery weight is measured against the local OEWS table.
• Treating Lincoln and Omaha as one labor market. They are separate OEWS areas with separate wage tables.
• Repeating "the $100,000 fee is back." As of 2026-11-01 it is not being collected; the agency policies are blocked and on appeal.
• Mixing up the two 60-day grace periods. The proposal to end the worker grace period covers H-1B and other work visas. The F-1 grace period after OPT is separate and is still 60 days, because a federal court has blocked the rule that would shorten it.

Frequently asked questions

Which companies in Omaha sponsor H-1B?

In the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract F1Jobs uses (FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial), Omaha's largest sponsors are HDR Engineering (207 petitions, plus 61 at HDR Architecture), Kiewit Engineering Group (159), Mutual of Omaha (121) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (277 and 82 under two name spellings). First National Bank of Omaha, Physicians Mutual, Creighton University and Union Pacific also appear. These are past filings, not open jobs, so confirm sponsorship for each posting.

Does Kiewit sponsor H-1B for engineers?

Yes, on the record. Kiewit Engineering Group in Omaha has 159 H-1B petitions in the Hub extract for FY2024 through FY2026 (FY2026 partial), and Kiewit Corporation is listed separately. As a private employer, a first-time H-1B there goes through the wage-weighted lottery, in effect since 2026-02-27, and field or project titles need a clear link between your degree and the duties.

Does Union Pacific hire international graduates?

Union Pacific is headquartered in Omaha, and Union Pacific Railroad appears on the Omaha sponsor page with 39 petitions (FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial), but in the Hub extract its filings lean heavily toward renewals and transfers of people already on H-1B rather than first-time petitions. First-time sponsorship looks uncommon on the record, not impossible. Ask the recruiter in writing whether a role is open to sponsorship, and confirm E-Verify enrollment if you will need STEM OPT.

Is UNMC cap-exempt for H-1B?

Generally yes for UNMC's own petitions. UNMC is part of the public University of Nebraska, and USCIS says workers petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education are not subject to the annual H-1B cap, so there is no lottery and filing can happen any time of year. Related employers such as The Nebraska Medical Center or UNMC Physicians are separate entities whose status their own counsel decides, and cap-exempt petitions get no cap-gap.

Is Omaha a good city for new grads on OPT?

For civil and structural engineering, insurance and actuarial analytics, and academic medicine, Omaha is a focused market, and a 2026 Checkr ranking reportedly placed it among the top large cities for new graduates. Volume is modest (18 employers and 1,109 petitions on the Omaha page across FY2024 through FY2026), so build a targeted list. OPT still allows 90 days of unemployment, or 150 in aggregate on STEM OPT.

Sources

• USCIS, H-1B Employer Data Hub
• USCIS, H-1B specialty occupations (cap and cap exemptions)
• USCIS, H-1B electronic registration process
• USCIS, Form I-129 (status of the $100,000 payment)
• USCIS, STEM OPT extension and cap-gap extension
• USCIS, Premium processing, G-1055 fee schedule and processing times
• DHS SEVIS Help Hub, Unemployment counter
• Federal Register, Weighted selection final rule and worker grace-period proposal
• OIRA, RIN 1615-AD00 agenda entry
• BLS, OEWS area definitions
• DOL, OFLC performance data and FLAG wage search
• Congressional Research Service, Insight IN12747
• Indeed Hiring Lab, US labor market snapshot, October 2026

How we checked this: employer counts come from the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub extract behind our sponsor pages (FY2024 through FY2026, FY2026 partial); rule text was read from the weighted selection final rule's regulatory text, the USCIS pages above, the CRS Insight and the BLS OEWS area definitions on 2026-11-01 and 2026-11-02, and policy status labels follow the Federal Register and court dockets as of 2026-11-01.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice; your own I-20, I-94 and approval notice, your DSO and your employer's immigration attorney govern your case.

If you want help turning this list into a short set of Omaha employers that actually fit your degree and visa timeline, F1Jobs works with F-1, OPT and H-1B candidates on exactly that.