H1B Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

H1B Visa a temporary work visa issued to anyone who plan to work in the US in a specialty occupation. To get H1B Visa, you usually need a higher education degree or equivalent experience. It is one of the most sought visas to work in the US by foreigners. Before applying for H1B Visa stamping at a US Consulate, the applicant needs to have an H1B Visa petition approved with USCIS

Last Updated: July 2026

Getting H1B Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for H1B 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 H1B Visa stamping, which is to get a H1B 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 H1B Visa, including data by country.

*H1B Visa Refusals are also called as H1B Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it H1B Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

H1B Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the H1B Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for H1B 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 H1B 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	86.88%	13.12%
2014	89.95%	10.05%
2015	89.88%	10.12%
2016	88.42%	11.58%
2017	83.16%	16.84%
2018	77.76%	22.24%
2019	97.99%	2.013%
2020	97.26%	2.743%
2021	92.85%	7.146%
2022	97.62%	2.379%
2023	97.88%	2.119%
2024	97.21%	2.787%

*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 H1B Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for H1B 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	153,223	23,141
2014	161,369	18,039
2015	172,748	19,446
2016	180,057	23,590
2017	179,049	36,254
2018	179,660	51,373
2019	188,123	3,864
2020	124,983	3,525
2021	61,569	4,738
2022	206,002	5,020
2023	265,777	5,755
2024	219,659	6,298

*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 H1B Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore H1B 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 H1B Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.