H-4 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
97.9%
FY 2023→ vs 97.5% prev year
Last year issued
186,748
FY 2023
Last year refused
3,938
2.1% 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 H-4 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 186,748 | 3,938 | 190,686 | 97.93% |
| 2022 | 137,246 | 3,514 | 140,760 | 97.5% |
| 2021 | 55,444 | 2,607 | 58,051 | 95.51% |
| 2020 | 66,323 | 1,842 | 68,165 | 97.3% |
| 2019 | 125,999 | 2,376 | 128,375 | 98.15% |
| 2018 | 130,814 | 23,362 | 154,176 | 84.85% |
| 2016 | 131,051 | 12,663 | 143,714 | 91.19% |
| 2015 | 124,484 | 10,248 | 134,732 | 92.39% |
| 2014 | 109,147 | 9,032 | 118,179 | 92.36% |
| 2013 | 96,753 | 11,409 | 108,162 | 89.45% |
| 2010 | 66,176 | 14,135 | 80,311 | 82.4% |
| 2009 | 60,009 | 12,007 | 72,016 | 83.33% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.