L1 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

L1 Visas are issued for anyone who would like to do a temporary intra-company transfer. There are two variants of the same. L1A is available for anyone who are in a managerial position and L1B is for someone who have specialized knowledge. Before someone can apply for L1 visa stamping at a consulate or embassy, they need to file a petition with USCIS and have it approved.

Last Updated: July 2026

Getting L1 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for L1 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 L1 Visa stamping, which is to get a L1 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 L1 Visa, including data by country.

*L1 Visa Refusals are also called as L1 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it L1 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

L1 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the L1 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for L1 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 L1 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	80.76%	19.24%
2014	83.84%	16.16%
2015	85%	15%
2016	83.18%	16.82%
2017	82.47%	17.53%
2018	81.99%	18.01%
2019	89.97%	10.03%
2020	91.49%	8.512%
2021	94.16%	5.843%
2022	97.07%	2.926%
2023	96.71%	3.288%
2024	96.1%	3.9%

*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 L1 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for L1 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	66,700	15,890
2014	71,513	13,784
2015	78,537	13,862
2016	79,306	16,036
2017	78,178	16,623
2018	74,388	16,336
2019	76,988	8,578
2020	35,942	3,344
2021	24,863	1,543
2022	72,958	2,199
2023	76,671	2,607
2024	71,799	2,914

*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 L1 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore L1 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 L1 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.