J1 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

J1 is an exchange visitor visa. It is issued for individuals to participate in exchange visitors programs under various categories such as short-term scholars, Au Pairs and EduCare, Camp counselors, intern, international visitor, physician, teacher, professor and research scholar, summer work travel, trainee, specialist. Each of these categories have their own requirements and applicants have to follow the required processes before they apply for J1 Visa stamping at a US Consulate or Embassy.

Last Updated: June 2026

Getting J1 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for J1 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 J1 Visa stamping, which is to get a J1 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 J1 Visa, including data by country.

*J1 Visa Refusals are also called as J1 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it J1 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

J1 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the J1 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for J1 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 J1 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	85.32%	14.68%
2014	88.55%	11.45%
2015	88.29%	11.71%
2016	87.27%	12.73%
2017	86.17%	13.83%
2018	84.42%	15.58%
2019	91.81%	8.195%
2020	90.11%	9.893%
2021	91.63%	8.373%
2022	88.89%	11.11%
2023	88.55%	11.45%
2024	89.04%	10.96%

*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 J1 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for J1 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	312,522	53,753
2014	331,068	42,792
2015	332,540	44,102
2016	339,712	49,558
2017	343,811	55,174
2018	342,639	63,233
2019	353,279	31,535
2020	108,510	11,914
2021	129,662	11,849
2022	284,486	35,561
2023	316,693	40,961
2024	322,820	39,747

*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 J1 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore J1 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 J1 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.