Anthropic H-1B visa employees salary details leak: Rs 11 crore base pay and more

Summary

The race to hire top AI talent is getting more expensive, and newly surfaced salary data offers a glimpse into just how much companies are willing to pay. Fresh US federal filings related to H-1B work visa visa sponsorships revealed that some employees at AI startup Anthropic are earning base salaries of more than $1 million a year, with the highest touching $1.38 million (around Rs 11 crore). The figures come from H-1B visa filings reviewed by Business Insider. These documents only disclose base salaries offered to foreign workers and do not include stock options, bonuses or other benefits, which can add substantially to an employee's total compensation. The salary disclosures show that Anthropic is paying some of the highest base salaries seen in the AI industry. Among the H-1B filings, two employees stand out with annual base pay exceeding $1 million. The data comes from nearly 80 H-1B visa positions that Anthropic received certification for during the first half of the US fiscal year 2026. Although these government filings only disclose fixed salaries and not stock grants, bonuses or other incentives, they still offer a rare look at how aggressively the company is investing in talent. The report further notes that Anthropic, along with OpenAI and Nvidia, increased its H-1B visa applications during a period when several large technology companies reduced theirs. The trend suggests that AI companies remain willing to hire globally as they continue searching for specialised talent.