J-1 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
88.5%
FY 2023→ vs 88.9% prev year
Last year issued
316,693
FY 2023
Last year refused
40,961
11.5% 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 J-1 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 316,693 | 40,961 | 357,654 | 88.55% |
| 2022 | 284,486 | 35,561 | 320,047 | 88.89% |
| 2021 | 129,662 | 11,849 | 141,511 | 91.63% |
| 2020 | 108,510 | 11,914 | 120,424 | 90.11% |
| 2019 | 353,279 | 31,535 | 384,814 | 91.81% |
| 2018 | 342,639 | 63,233 | 405,872 | 84.42% |
| 2016 | 339,712 | 49,558 | 389,270 | 87.27% |
| 2015 | 332,540 | 44,102 | 376,642 | 88.29% |
| 2014 | 331,068 | 42,792 | 373,860 | 88.55% |
| 2013 | 312,522 | 53,753 | 366,275 | 85.32% |
| 2010 | 320,805 | 59,625 | 380,430 | 84.33% |
| 2009 | 313,597 | 52,270 | 365,867 | 85.71% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.