F1 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

F1 Visa is issued for Students who plan to study at a University, college or High School. It can also be used for attending private elementary school, Seminary, Conservatory or another academic institution. It can be also be issued for language training program. To apply for F1 visa, you need to have an I-20 from SEVP approved school. You can apply for F1 visa at a US consulate or Embassy

Last Updated: June 2026

Getting F1 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for F1 Visa will give you an idea on what to expect. The approval and refusal/ rejection rates that you see on this page correspond to applicants who applied for F1 Visa stamping, which is to get a F1 Visa stamp (foil that is glued in passport), at a US Embassy or Consulate. On this page, you can explore worldwide approval, rejection rates for F1 Visa, including data by country.

*F1 Visa Refusals are also called as F1 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it F1 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

F1 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the F1 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for F1 Visa are derived based on the total number of approvals and refusals shared by US Department of state. All the data you see on this page for F1 Visa is from the official visa statistics released on US Department of State website.

Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.

https://visagrader.com

Fiscal Year*	Approval Rate	Refusal Rate
2013	76.94%	23.06%
2014	77.48%	22.52%
2015	75.24%	24.76%
2016	65.67%	34.33%
2017	64.67%	35.33%
2018	65.03%	34.97%
2019	74.62%	25.38%
2020	68.81%	31.19%
2021	80.16%	19.84%
2022	65.07%	34.93%
2023	63.74%	36.26%
2024	58.99%	41.01%

*Fiscal Year for US Dept of State & USCIS starts from Oct 1st, ends Sep 30th.
E.g. Fiscal Year 2023 Starts Oct 1, 2022, ends Sep 30, 2023.

Total F1 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for F1 Visa worldwide by fiscal year (FY). You can see the graph to see the trend of approvals and rejections. The same data is displayed as a table for easy review.

Scroll horizontally to see the full chart.

https://visagrader.com

Fiscal Year	Approvals	Refusals
2013	534,320	160,168
2014	595,569	173,062
2015	644,233	212,018
2016	471,728	246,614
2017	393,573	215,058
2018	362,929	195,187
2019	364,204	123,871
2020	111,387	50,490
2021	357,839	88,583
2022	411,131	220,676
2023	445,418	253,355
2024	400,737	278,553

*Fiscal Year for US Dept of State & USCIS starts from Oct 1st, ends Sep 30th.
E.g. Fiscal Year 2021 Starts Oct 1, 2020, ends Sep 30, 2021.

Browse F1 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore F1 Visa approvals & refusals data by country & by nationality, by clicking on the country specific links. Click on any of the country flag icons or the blue links to view F1 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.