Use the 2026 Visa-Attrition Benchmark to Decide Where to Move Roles

The deadline is the decision

The deadline is the next filing cycle. The decision is where the role sits: keep it at home, move the employee, or move the work. The 2026 Envoy Global U.S. Corporate Immigration Trends survey, a U.S. employer benchmark, sets the standard for that choice.

The survey was fielded online from March 20 to April 14, 2026, and included 519 U.S.-based HR professionals. That sample is the evidence base for a 2026 mobility review.

The benchmark sheet is the decision aid

Use these lines in the review. They are the numbers a mobility manager can defend to finance, legal, and the business owner.

1. Visa-driven attrition: 65% of U.S. employers said foreign employees left the United States during the prior year because of visa denials or processing delays, up from 53% in 2025.
2. Employee relocation: 60.9% of U.S. employers had transferred employees outside the United States because of visa delays or other immigration obstacles, compared with 48.6% in the prior year.
3. Nearshoring or offshoring intent: 68% of U.S. employers said they intended to expand nearshoring or offshoring during 2026.
4. Green-card cost coverage: approximately 90% of surveyed employers said they bear all or most of the expenses tied to green-card sponsorship.
5. H-1B registration change: nearly 60% of surveyed employers said they filed more H-1B registrations than in the prior year, despite limited visa availability.
6. Destination mix: Canada was named by 72.8% of surveyed employers and the United Kingdom by 69.6%, while France, Ireland, the UAE, and Singapore were also listed among preferred destinations.

Treat the list as a yardstick, not a forecast. Attrition tells you who is already leaving. Relocation tells you who is being moved. Nearshoring intent tells you where the work may go. Sponsorship cost tells you what staying at home actually funds. Registration volume tells you how hard the filing cycle is being tested. Destination mix tells you where the viable exits are.

The options share one measure

Measure each option against the same criteria: attrition risk, cost exposure, and filing-cycle exposure.

Score each option in the same order. Start by asking whether the employee is likely to stay if the filing fails. Then ask whether the business can fund the path that keeps the employee in the role. Finally ask whether the work can be separated from the person without breaking delivery. The answer should be a recommendation, not a preference.

Keep the role at home

Keeping the role at home preserves the local site, but it carries the highest attrition risk when visa friction is real. The attrition line is the warning sign. Sponsorship spending is heavy. The green-card cost line shows what staying at home actually funds. Filing-cycle exposure remains high. The registration line is the warning sign.

Move the employee abroad

Moving the employee lowers attrition risk by removing the worker from the filing cycle that caused the problem. The relocation line tells the story. Relocation adds moving, housing, tax, and compliance work. The filing cycle shifts to a new destination, and the destination mix narrows the search.

Move the work abroad

Moving the work lowers attrition risk for the individual by separating the role from the person. The nearshoring intent line tells the story. Coordination is the main cost. Nearshoring or offshoring adds vendor management, data-handling rules, and a new reporting line. The filing cycle shrinks for the home role, but the organization takes on a new compliance workload.

The verdict is a sequencing rule

For mobility managers and HR leads preparing the next mobility program review, the default should be a sequence, not a slogan.

Keep the role at home when the sponsorship path is funded, the employee wants to stay, and the business can absorb the filing-cycle risk. Move the employee when the role is person-dependent and a preferred destination is realistic. Move the work when the role can be separated from the individual and the organization can manage the added coordination.

The benchmark does not pick the winner for every role. It tells you where the pressure is. If attrition, relocation, nearshoring intent, sponsorship cost, registration volume, and destination mix all point the same way, the next filing cycle should follow that direction.