B1/B2 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
76.2%
FY 2023↓ vs 79.5% prev year
Last year issued
5,902,425
FY 2023
Last year refused
1,842,683
23.8% refusal rate
How to use this data
What this shows: Yearly visa workload: applications, issued, refused, and derived approval rate by visa class (global only).
How to leverage it: Set expectations for outcome quality. Combine with issuance trends to see if volume changes align with approval rates.
Caution: Rates are global; we do not have approval rates by country or consulate.
Country share of issuances (last 12 months)
Top 10 countries by B1/B2 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5,902,425 | 1,842,683 | 7,745,108 | 76.21% |
| 2022 | 3,228,199 | 835,003 | 4,063,202 | 79.45% |
| 2021 | 814,957 | 164,616 | 979,573 | 83.2% |
| 2020 | 2,164,021 | 1,003,430 | 3,167,451 | 68.32% |
| 2019 | 5,297,439 | 2,288,033 | 7,585,472 | 69.84% |
| 2018 | 5,708,278 | 2,735,214 | 8,443,492 | 67.61% |
| 2016 | 6,881,797 | 2,691,733 | 9,573,530 | 71.88% |
| 2015 | 7,199,807 | 2,197,433 | 9,397,240 | 76.62% |
| 2014 | 6,276,997 | 1,667,865 | 7,944,862 | 79.01% |
| 2013 | 5,645,580 | 1,484,912 | 7,130,492 | 79.18% |
| 2010 | 3,278,782 | 1,162,582 | 4,441,364 | 73.82% |
| 2009 | 2,924,368 | 1,173,505 | 4,097,873 | 71.36% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.