F-1 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
63.7%
FY 2023↓ vs 65.1% prev year
Last year issued
445,418
FY 2023
Last year refused
253,355
36.3% 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 F-1 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 445,418 | 253,355 | 698,773 | 63.74% |
| 2022 | 411,131 | 220,676 | 631,807 | 65.07% |
| 2021 | 357,839 | 88,583 | 446,422 | 80.16% |
| 2020 | 111,387 | 50,490 | 161,877 | 68.81% |
| 2019 | 364,204 | 123,871 | 488,075 | 74.62% |
| 2018 | 362,929 | 195,187 | 558,116 | 65.03% |
| 2016 | 471,728 | 246,614 | 718,342 | 65.67% |
| 2015 | 644,233 | 212,018 | 856,251 | 75.24% |
| 2014 | 595,569 | 173,062 | 768,631 | 77.48% |
| 2013 | 534,320 | 160,168 | 694,488 | 76.94% |
| 2010 | 385,210 | 154,990 | 540,200 | 71.31% |
| 2009 | 331,208 | 146,574 | 477,782 | 69.32% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.