L-1 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
96.7%
FY 2023→ vs 97.1% prev year
Last year issued
76,671
FY 2023
Last year refused
2,607
3.3% 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 L-1 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 76,671 | 2,607 | 79,278 | 96.71% |
| 2022 | 72,958 | 2,199 | 75,157 | 97.07% |
| 2021 | 24,863 | 1,543 | 26,406 | 94.16% |
| 2020 | 35,942 | 3,344 | 39,286 | 91.49% |
| 2019 | 76,988 | 8,578 | 85,566 | 89.97% |
| 2018 | 74,388 | 16,336 | 90,724 | 81.99% |
| 2016 | 79,306 | 16,036 | 95,342 | 83.18% |
| 2015 | 78,537 | 13,862 | 92,399 | 85% |
| 2014 | 71,513 | 13,784 | 85,297 | 83.84% |
| 2013 | 66,700 | 15,890 | 82,590 | 80.76% |
| 2010 | 74,719 | 16,367 | 91,086 | 82.03% |
| 2009 | 64,696 | 9,959 | 74,655 | 86.66% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.