O2 Visa Stamping Statistics: Approval, Refusal Rates Worldwide, by Country

O2 Visa issued for anyone accompanying an O1 artist or athlete. They are mainly given for anyone to assist them in a specific event or performance. Before apply for O2 visa at a US Consulate or Embassy the employer or agent has to apply for a petition with USCIs and get it approved.

Last Updated: June 2026

Getting O2 Visa depends on various factors. Having an understanding of the overall approval and refusal rates globally for O2 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 O2 Visa stamping, which is to get a O2 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 O2 Visa, including data by country.

*O2 Visa Refusals are also called as O2 Visa Rejections by many users and are used interchangeably. The US Dept. of State officially calls it O2 Visa Refusal, so we have used this term for presenting data. But, both mean the same.

O2 Visa Approval and Refusal Rates Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the O2 Visa approval and refusal rate worldwide by fiscal year. The approval and refusal rates for O2 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 O2 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	89.07%	10.93%
2014	88.62%	11.38%
2015	86.4%	13.6%
2016	88.05%	11.95%
2017	86.64%	13.36%
2018	83.67%	16.33%
2019	96.58%	3.424%
2020	94.5%	5.498%
2021	92.88%	7.12%
2022	95.93%	4.066%
2023	95.41%	4.586%
2024	94.69%	5.312%

*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 O2 Visa Approvals and Refusals Worldwide by Fiscal Year

Below is the total number of approvals and refusals for O2 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	6,623	813
2014	6,251	803
2015	5,792	912
2016	7,417	1,007
2017	8,053	1,242
2018	8,432	1,646
2019	8,743	310
2020	3,919	228
2021	2,870	220
2022	11,586	491
2023	13,335	641
2024	13,922	781

*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 O2 Visa Issuances/ Approvals by Country & Nationality

You can also explore O2 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 O2 Visa approvals/ issuances for that country & individuals with that nationality.