L-2 Visa Approval Rate by Year
Yearly issued, refused, applications, and calculated approval rate from State Dept workload data.
Latest approval rate
97.7%
FY 2023→ vs 97.6% prev year
Last year issued
83,277
FY 2023
Last year refused
1,945
2.3% 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-2 visa issuances; remaining countries grouped as Others.
| Year | Issued | Refused | Applications | Approval % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 83,277 | 1,945 | 85,222 | 97.72% |
| 2022 | 78,448 | 1,918 | 80,366 | 97.61% |
| 2021 | 30,354 | 1,297 | 31,651 | 95.9% |
| 2020 | 35,710 | 1,840 | 37,550 | 95.1% |
| 2019 | 80,720 | 4,484 | 85,204 | 94.74% |
| 2018 | 78,711 | 11,681 | 90,392 | 87.08% |
| 2016 | 85,872 | 12,021 | 97,893 | 87.72% |
| 2015 | 86,067 | 10,845 | 96,912 | 88.81% |
| 2014 | 78,108 | 10,147 | 88,255 | 88.5% |
| 2013 | 74,104 | 10,710 | 84,814 | 87.37% |
| 2010 | 69,233 | 9,860 | 79,093 | 87.53% |
| 2009 | 59,579 | 7,385 | 66,964 | 88.97% |
Source: US Dept of State Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics. For informational purposes. Not affiliated with US Government.