Data Engineer at Apple — H-1B Wage Level, PERM Record & Green Card Timeline
Direct answer: Apple's Data Engineer H-1B offers show a median of $150,093 across 198 disclosed LCA records, ranging from $78,603 to $211,536, with Sunnyvale ($170,700) and Cupertino ($161,002) commanding the top metro medians. Apple is a very high-approval, high-wage sponsor — a ~1.1% H-1B denial rate in FY2025 and an average H-1B salary of $208,969 company-wide — with an active green card pipeline (1,240 PERM filings in FY2025).
Apple Data Engineer — Data Snapshot
| Metric | Value | Data as of · Source |
|---|---|---|
| Offered wage (median) | $150,093 across 198 disclosed LCA records | FY2020–2025 LCA filings · DOL OFLC LCA disclosure, via h1bdata.info, retrieved Aug 2026 |
| Wage range | $78,603–$211,536 | same |
| Wage-band distribution | 3% below $100k · 45% $100k–$150k · 49% $150k–$200k · 3% above $200k | same |
| By location | Cupertino, CA: 67 records, median $161,002 · Sunnyvale, CA: 49 records, median $170,700 · Austin, TX: 56 records, median $144,144 · plus San Diego, Cary, Elk Grove, Seattle | same |
| Title-level detail | Includes Data Engineer 3, Data Engineer 4, and Engineering Manager designations | same |
| H-1B approvals/denials, FY2025 | 5,382 approved / 58 denied (~1.1% denial rate); new employment 822/3, continuation 1,282/24, change of employer 777/4 | USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, FY2025, via myvisajobs.com |
| LCA volume, FY2025 (all titles) | 7,040 filed, 6 withdrawn | DOL OFLC LCA disclosure, FY2025 |
| PERM (green card) filings, FY2025 | 1,240 filed | DOL OFLC PERM disclosure, FY2025 |
| Average salary, FY2025 (company-wide) | Prevailing wage average: $149,070 · H-1B average: $208,969 | myvisajobs.com aggregation |
Modeled Timeline: Offer to Green Card
- Offer → LCA certified: ~7 calendar days.
- LCA → H-1B approved: 2–8 weeks standard, or 15 business days with premium processing.
- PERM: PWD ~3 months + recruitment ~2–3 months + DOL analyst review ~16–17 months at the current average pace; audits commonly add 6–12+ months. Apple's 1,240 FY2025 PERM filings indicate a large, active green card program relative to its overall headcount.
- I-140: 2.5–3.5 months standard, or 15 business days premium.
- Priority date wait: varies sharply by chargeability — see table below.
- I-485: roughly 8.5–38 months to 80th-percentile completion once current.
Wait time by chargeability country
| Chargeability | EB-2 cutoff, Aug 2026 | EB-3 cutoff, Aug 2026 | Directional wait for a PERM filed today |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | Unavailable (FY2026 limit reached) | Jan 1, 2014 | Multi-year, commonly discussed as a decade or more by immigration attorneys — directional only |
| China | Sept 1, 2021 | Jan 1, 2022 | Several years, shorter than India but still multi-year |
| Rest of World | Current | Sept 1, 2024 | EB-2: little to no wait once I-140 approved; EB-3: roughly ~2 years |
Source: U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin, August 2026.
FAQs
Why is Apple's median Data Engineer wage well above Apple's overall prevailing wage average? The $150,093 Data Engineer median sits above Apple's company-wide prevailing wage average of $149,070, reflecting that Data Engineer roles at Apple skew toward higher levels (Data Engineer 3/4, Engineering Manager) rather than entry-level positions.
How does Sunnyvale pay compare to Cupertino for the same title at Apple? Sunnyvale runs slightly higher in the disclosed data ($170,700 median vs. $161,002 for Cupertino), though both are well above the Austin figure ($144,144).
Is Apple's ~1.1% denial rate typical for a company of its size? It's on the lower end among major tech sponsors — comparable to Amazon's ~1.4% and lower than Microsoft's ~3.5% for the same period — suggesting consistently well-documented filings.
Does Apple sponsor green cards for engineers at the same pace as it hires H-1B workers? Not one-to-one — 1,240 PERM filings against 7,040 LCAs in FY2025 suggests PERM sponsorship typically starts after an employee has been established at Apple for some time, not immediately at hire.
How long will an India-chargeability Data Engineer at Apple wait for a green card? With EB-2 marked Unavailable and EB-3 at a January 2014 cutoff in the August 2026 bulletin, plan for a multi-year, realistically many-year, wait once PERM and I-140 are approved.
Should I expect a different wage level if I'm hired as "Data Engineer 4" versus "Data Engineer 3"? Yes — the disclosed data spans multiple internal levels (3, 4, and Engineering Manager) contributing to the wide $78,603–$211,536 range, so your specific level matters more than the title alone.
Related H-1B & Green Card Timelines
- Data Scientist at Apple
- Senior Software Engineer at Apple
- Machine Learning Engineer at Apple
- Hardware Engineer at Apple
- Data Engineer at Cognizant
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