Visa-aware career intelligence
Vistara Path separates current employer listings, current posting language, historical government records, and model-generated ranking. A strong signal is useful research evidence. It is never presented as a sponsorship promise or an immigration eligibility decision.
Methodology reviewed October 29, 2026
A role is shown only when a public employer career feed or official job API returns a usable title, U.S. location, description, and application URL. Vistara records the time of the search and sends the student to the employer page for final confirmation.
Vistara checks the current description for explicit sponsorship support, explicit restrictions, general work-authorization requirements, or no statement. Restrictive language is evaluated before positive language and reduces the ranking.
Official Department of Labor LCA disclosure records provide historical employer activity. They do not prove that a current role will sponsor. Exact legal-name matching and the source release are shown.
| Label | Meaning | Student action |
|---|---|---|
| Employer feed listing | The employer feed returned the role when Vistara checked it. | Open the employer page and confirm that applications are still accepted. |
| Sponsorship language found | The current posting contains explicit language supporting or considering sponsorship. | Read the full sentence and confirm that it applies to the exact role and work location. |
| Sponsorship restriction found | The current posting contains a no-sponsorship, citizenship, permanent-resident, or U.S.-person restriction. | Do not rely on historical employer activity to override the current posting. |
| Sponsorship not stated | The available feed text does not answer the sponsorship question. | Confirm on the employer page or with the recruiter. Silence is not a positive signal. |
| Historical DOL LCA positions | The matched legal employer appears in the loaded official disclosure release. | Use it to prioritize research, not to claim current sponsorship. |
| Vistara match | A transparent ranking based on role family, career stage, query and resume evidence, location, and current restriction language. | Review the reasons before tailoring. The score is not an eligibility score. |
OFLC performance and disclosure data provides quarterly and annual LCA records submitted by employers. DOL notes that employer-provided data can contain errors or later changes.
H-1B Employer Data Hub adds petition decision context where a reliable employer match is available. Petition history and LCA history are different evidence types.
USAJOBS Job APIs supply official federal announcements when configured. Students must follow the instructions in the official announcement.
Claim boundary
Vistara can claim: visa-aware career intelligence, employer-feed job discovery, official historical sponsor evidence, posting-language detection, explainable matching, and human-controlled application preparation.
Vistara does not claim: guaranteed job accuracy after the check time, guaranteed sponsorship, immigration eligibility, employer approval, DSO authorization, legal advice, or a hiring outcome.
Errors can be reported to contact@vistarapath.com. A reported source or classification issue should be reviewed against the employer posting and official data before correction.