H4 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

H4 Visa is a dependent visa that is issued to spouse and children of primary visa holders on H1B, H1B1, H2A, H2B, H1C or H3 Visa. The H4 Visa is not applicable for parents. Depending on the visa category of the primary applicant, there are restrictions on if they can work or not in the US. It is applicable to unmarried children who are under 21 years.

Last Updated: July 2026

Getting H4 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for H4 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 H4 Visa stamping, which is to get a H4 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 H4 Visa, including data by country.

*H4 Visa Refusals are also called as H4 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it H4 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

H4 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the H4 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for H4 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 H4 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	89.45%	10.55%
2014	92.36%	7.643%
2015	92.39%	7.606%
2016	91.19%	8.811%
2017	89.07%	10.93%
2018	84.85%	15.15%
2019	98.15%	1.851%
2020	97.3%	2.702%
2021	95.51%	4.491%
2022	97.5%	2.496%
2023	97.93%	2.065%
2024	96.59%	3.406%

*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 H4 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for H4 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	96,753	11,409
2014	109,147	9,032
2015	124,484	10,248
2016	131,051	12,663
2017	136,393	16,735
2018	130,814	23,362
2019	125,999	2,376
2020	66,323	1,842
2021	55,444	2,607
2022	137,246	3,514
2023	186,748	3,938
2024	139,874	4,932

*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 H4 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore H4 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 H4 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.