AI Researcher Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
AI Researcher roles are among the most actively sponsored positions in the U.S. right now. Most employers file H-1B visa petitions for this role, and many qualify for cap-exempt filing through universities and nonprofit research labs. A master's or PhD in computer science, machine learning, or a related field is standard. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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Our team's mission is to empower content interaction and creation using CV related technologies. We focus on cutting-edge R&D in areas like video understanding, multimodal understanding, image and video synthesis, 3D vision and intelligent editing. We are looking for Research Interns in the area of computer vision and machine learning at all levels at TikTok. We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. PhD internships at Our Company provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, as well as to the organization's future plans and emerging technologies. Our dynamic internship experience blends hands-on learning, enriching community-building and professional development events, and collaboration with industry experts. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume (Start date, End date).
This internship provides students the opportunity to join one of our engineering teams where you will have the opportunity to:
- Build new features that touch hundreds of millions of people around the world
- Solve unique, large-scale, highly complex technical problems
- Build the next-generation monetization platform to help millions of customers grow their businesses
- Work with your mentor to deliver product features and make engineering improvements
- Build world-class web applications that combine usability, accessibility, elegance, performance, and maintainability
- Conduct cutting-edge research and development in computer vision, machine learning and other related fields
- Work with Research Scientists to deliver advanced technologies to TikTok products
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during in 2027
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
- Strong track record of research in one or more areas of computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning, preferring candidates with publications in some conference such as SIGGRAPH/SIGGRAPH Asia, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR.
- Highly competent in algorithms and programming.
- Work and collaborate well with team members.
- Ability to work independently.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
- High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities.
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Hourly) - Campus Intern
The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $60 - $60. Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance. The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
- Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
- Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
- Exercising sound judgment.
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
TikTok Accommodation
TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
Responsibilities
Our team's mission is to empower content interaction and creation using CV related technologies. We focus on cutting-edge R&D in areas like video understanding, multimodal understanding, image and video synthesis, 3D vision and intelligent editing. We are looking for Research Interns in the area of computer vision and machine learning at all levels at TikTok. We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. PhD internships at Our Company provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, as well as to the organization's future plans and emerging technologies. Our dynamic internship experience blends hands-on learning, enriching community-building and professional development events, and collaboration with industry experts. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume (Start date, End date).
This internship provides students the opportunity to join one of our engineering teams where you will have the opportunity to:
- Build new features that touch hundreds of millions of people around the world
- Solve unique, large-scale, highly complex technical problems
- Build the next-generation monetization platform to help millions of customers grow their businesses
- Work with your mentor to deliver product features and make engineering improvements
- Build world-class web applications that combine usability, accessibility, elegance, performance, and maintainability
- Conduct cutting-edge research and development in computer vision, machine learning and other related fields
- Work with Research Scientists to deliver advanced technologies to TikTok products
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Able to commit to working for 12 weeks during in 2027
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
- Strong track record of research in one or more areas of computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning, preferring candidates with publications in some conference such as SIGGRAPH/SIGGRAPH Asia, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR.
- Highly competent in algorithms and programming.
- Work and collaborate well with team members.
- Ability to work independently.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
- High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities.
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Hourly) - Campus Intern
The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $60 - $60. Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance. The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
- Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
- Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
- Exercising sound judgment.
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day. We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
TikTok Accommodation
TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
See all 621+ AI Researcher Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new AI Researcher roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding AI Researcher Jobs
Target cap-exempt employers first
Universities, nonprofit research institutes, and government-affiliated labs can sponsor H-1B visas outside the annual lottery. For AI Researchers, this dramatically increases your odds of getting sponsored without waiting for a cap-subject slot.
Lead with publications and benchmarks
Employers evaluating AI Researchers want evidence of impact. Citing published papers, open-source contributions, or model performance benchmarks gives hiring managers and immigration attorneys concrete proof your role meets specialty occupation standards.
A PhD opens O-1A doors
AI Researchers with peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, or awards may qualify for the O-1A extraordinary ability visa. It has no lottery, no annual cap, and is increasingly common for senior researchers at frontier AI labs.
Clarify your research scope early in interviews
Employers sometimes conflate AI Researchers with ML Engineers or Data Scientists, which affects how they structure sponsorship. Be specific about whether your role is research-focused to ensure the petition is filed under the right classification.
Degree field alignment matters for H-1B approval
USCIS requires your degree to directly relate to the research specialization. A PhD in physics applying to a natural language processing role may face scrutiny. Framing your coursework and thesis in terms of the job's technical requirements strengthens the petition.
EB-1A and NIW are realistic long-term paths
AI Researchers are well-positioned for EB-1A extraordinary ability or EB-2 National Interest Waiver green cards. Published research, citation counts, and national security or scientific impact arguments carry significant weight with USCIS adjudicators for both categories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do AI Researcher roles typically qualify as H-1B specialty occupations?
Yes. AI Researcher positions almost universally qualify as specialty occupations because they require at minimum a bachelor's degree, and in practice a master's or PhD, in computer science, machine learning, statistics, or a closely related field. USCIS has a strong approval record for this role when the job description is research-specific and the degree field aligns with the work.
Can I get sponsored as an AI Researcher without going through the H-1B lottery?
Yes, through two main paths. First, cap-exempt employers, including universities, nonprofit research labs, and certain government-affiliated institutions, can file H-1B visa petitions year-round outside the lottery. Second, AI Researchers with strong publication records may qualify for the O-1A visa, which has no lottery or annual cap. Browse current openings on Migrate Mate to filter for employers with a track record of cap-exempt or O-1A sponsorship.
Does my degree need to be in AI or machine learning specifically?
Not necessarily, but it needs to be directly relevant to the research role. Computer science, statistics, mathematics, cognitive science, and electrical engineering are all accepted. Where applicants run into trouble is when the degree is in an unrelated field and the connection to AI research isn't clearly documented. USCIS looks at coursework, thesis topics, and specializations, not just the degree title.
What visa options are available for senior AI Researchers beyond the H-1B?
Senior AI Researchers have several strong options. The O-1A visa suits those with published papers, speaking invitations, awards, or high citation counts. The EB-1A immigrant visa (extraordinary ability) and EB-2 National Interest Waiver both work well for researchers whose work has demonstrated scientific or national significance. Both green card categories allow self-petition without an employer sponsor, which is a meaningful advantage.
How do employers typically assess whether to sponsor an AI Researcher?
Most employers look at three things: research output (publications, conference presentations, open-source contributions), technical specialization (the more narrowly defined, the easier the H-1B justification), and long-term retention potential. Frontier AI companies and academic institutions are generally more experienced with sponsorship and more willing to absorb the cost. Startups may require more upfront conversation about the process.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored AI Researcher jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.