Unofficial site. Data from official U.S. government websites.

Visa issuance numbers, appointment wait times and the Visa Bulletin come from the U.S. Department of State (issuance reports, wait times, Visa Bulletin). Green card numbers come from the Department of Homeland Security (Office of Homeland Security Statistics). Issuance counts are not approval rates, and monthly figures are preliminary. This site is not legal or immigration advice and is not affiliated with the U.S. government.

Data through February 2026 · 108 months published since March 2017

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Dashboard›Visa refusal rates›By visa type

Approvals and refusals worldwide

H1B · Specialty occupation worker

For temporary workers in jobs that need specialized knowledge and usually a bachelor's degree or higher. How many applications were approved and refused, every fiscal year with data.

Source: U.S. Department of State, NIV workload by visa category · Unofficial

H1B visas · FY2024
97% approved
219,659 approved (issued) · 6,298 refused · 225,957 applications, worldwide.

Approved share by year

Choose a year
90%90%88%83%78%98%93%98%98%97%
1420152016201720182019202120222023202420

Every year

Fiscal yearApprovedRefusedApplicationsApproved %
FY2024219,6596,298225,95797%
FY2023265,7775,755271,53298%
FY2022206,0025,020211,02298%
FY202161,5694,73866,30793%
FY2019188,1233,864191,98798%
FY2018179,66051,373231,03378%
FY2017179,04936,254215,30383%
FY2016180,05723,590203,64788%
FY2015172,74819,446192,19490%
FY2014161,36918,039179,40890%

A fiscal year runs from October to September. Refused counts the applications still refused at the end of the year.

The State Department publishes refusal rates by nationality for visitor (B) visas only. For H1B you can see the worldwide numbers above. See B visas by nationality →

In plain words

Refusal rate
Out of 100 people who applied, how many were told no. A 20% refusal rate means about 20 in 100 were refused.
Adjusted
The State Department leaves out people who were refused for paperwork reasons and later got the visa, so the number is fairer.
Approved
The visa was issued. We show it as what is left after the refusals.
Applications (workload)
Everyone the embassies decided on in the year: visas issued plus visas refused.
Fiscal year (FY)
The U.S. government year, October to September. FY2025 is October 2024 to September 2025.

H1B in short

How many H1B visa applications are approved?

Worldwide in FY2024, 219,659 of 225,957 H1B visa applications were approved (issued), about 97%, and 6,298 were refused. This is a group figure, not a prediction for any one person.

Visa Status is an unofficial site and does not give immigration advice. These numbers describe all applications worldwide in one fiscal year. They do not predict what will happen to any one applicant.

Also see

H1B visas issued by country →All visa types →Refusal rates by country →