O1 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

O1 Visa is issued for anyone with extraordinary ability in the areas of science, arts, business, education or athletics, including motion picture or TV industry. These have to be internationally recognized. The employer or agent has to file a petition with USCIS before apply for an O1 visa at a US Embassy or consulate

Last Updated: July 2026

Getting O1 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for O1 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 O1 Visa stamping, which is to get a O1 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 O1 Visa, including data by country.

*O1 Visa Refusals are also called as O1 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it O1 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

O1 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the O1 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for O1 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 O1 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	83.48%	16.52%
2014	83.79%	16.21%
2015	82.85%	17.15%
2016	82.71%	17.29%
2017	81.03%	18.97%
2018	81.15%	18.85%
2019	97.04%	2.963%
2020	95.34%	4.66%
2021	91.95%	8.055%
2022	96.21%	3.792%
2023	95.49%	4.514%
2024	94.14%	5.864%

*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 O1 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for O1 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	12,359	2,446
2014	12,706	2,458
2015	13,865	2,870
2016	15,918	3,327
2017	17,011	3,982
2018	16,904	3,926
2019	17,751	542
2020	8,838	432
2021	7,294	639
2022	19,102	753
2023	18,994	898
2024	19,457	1,212

*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 O1 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore O1 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 O1 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.