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

J1 · Exchange visitor

For approved exchange programs such as research scholars, interns, au pairs, camp counselors and exchange students. How many applications were approved and refused, every fiscal year with data.

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

J1 visas · FY2019
92% approved
353,279 approved (issued) · 31,535 refused · 384,814 applications, worldwide.

Approved share by year

Choose a year
89%88%87%86%84%92%92%89%89%89%
1420152016201720182019202120222023202420

Every year

Fiscal yearApprovedRefusedApplicationsApproved %
FY2024322,82039,747362,56789%
FY2023316,69340,961357,65489%
FY2022284,48635,561320,04789%
FY2021129,66211,849141,51192%
FY2019353,27931,535384,81492%
FY2018342,63963,233405,87284%
FY2017343,81155,174398,98586%
FY2016339,71249,558389,27087%
FY2015332,54044,102376,64288%
FY2014331,06842,792373,86089%

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 J1 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.

J1 in short

How many J1 visa applications are approved?

Worldwide in FY2019, 353,279 of 384,814 J1 visa applications were approved (issued), about 92%, and 31,535 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

J1 visas issued by country →All visa types →Refusal rates by country →