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United States Visa Application Rejection Rates

Visa application and rejection statistics are normally published by the U.S. Department of State, but the last publication of visa statistics only covered data through FY2001. The Bureau of Consular Affairs at the Department of State sent me data which covers FY2002 and FY2003.

I am making this information available because of the enormous response to my New York Times article, “Land of the Free?” which ran on 31 March 2004 and addressed the question of whether America is clogging its own arteries and preempting the entry to U.S. universities of the best and brightest minds from the rest of the world, particularly developing nations. Click here to read article that appeared in New York Times.

Although the article mentioned that non-immigrant visa application fees rose from $65 per application before 9/11 to $100 after, one should note that the visa application fee in 1998 was only $20. This is a staggeringly high increase in visa application fees, combined with an enormous drop in applications after 9/11, accompanied by an increase in the rejection rate for all visa types.

U.S. Department of State Visa Statistics for FY1999 through FY2003

	FY1999	FY2000	FY2001	FY2002	FY2003
B1, B2, B1/B2 VISAS
Issued	4,358,130	4,406,396	4,237,596	2,904,781	2,556,350
Refused*	1,540,336	1,728,570	2,035,428	1,572,478	1,189,870
Total Applications	5,898,466	6,134,966	6,273,024	4,477,259	3,746,211
Refusal Rate**	26.1%	28.1%	32.4%	35.1%	31.7%

FI VISAS
Issued	262,515	283,471	293,357	234,322	215,694
Refused*	66,681	73,328	87,205	88,484	73,118
Total Applications	329,196	356,799	380,562	322,806	288,812
Refusal Rate**	20.2%	20.5%	22.9%	27.4%	25.3%

J1 VISAS
Issued	210,979	235,850	261,769	253,841	253,864
Refused*	11,052	10,653	14,391	17,017	21,560
Total Applications	222,031	246,503	276,160	270,858	275,424
Refusal Rate**	4.9%	4.2%	5.1%	6.2%	7.8%

This information provided by Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
*This figure of refused applications takes into account the refusals overcome (i.e. reversed), which are included in the visa issuance total.
**This figure of refusal rate takes into account refusals overcome, which are included in the visa issuance total.

The B1 or B2 visitor visa is a nonimmigrant visa for foreign citizens desiring to enter the United States temporarily for business (B1, Business Travel Visa) or for pleasure or medical treatment (B2, Tourist Visa).

The FI visa is for students qualified to attend full time college, university, conservatory, academic high school (subject to strict regulations) and any institution with language-training programs in the United States.

The J1 visa program is actually an "exchange program" and not necessarily a student-based program. However, by far, students seeking their medical degrees in the United States are the most frequent users of the visa. The J-1 visa is preferred over the F-1 by some students since the spouse of the J-1 is allowed to work in the United States.