How many B1/B2 visa applications U.S. Embassies and Consulates in South Africa approved, by fiscal year and by post. Every visa issued is an approved application.
The State Department publishes issuance counts for this visa class but not refusals, so there is no approval rate to report and none is shown. Figures run from March 2017 to September 2025.
Visitor visas are the one class where the State Department publishes a rate for each nationality, so this is the only genuine, country -specific approval rate on this site. Everything else here is a count of visas issued. Covers FY2017 to FY2025.
88.34%
Approved in FY2025
11.66%
Refused in FY2025
Against the 160 countries with enough visitor-visa volume to rank.
#133
Highest refusal rate
67.95%
World median approval
+20.4
Points vs median
Approvals are the visas actually issued. Refusals are what the published refusal rate implies for that year, net of overcomes.
The published split for South Africa. Both series on a fixed 0–100% axis, so years and countries stay comparable.
11.66%
Refused FY2025
17.67%
Highest (FY2021)
+1.0
Points vs FY2024
| Fiscal year | Approved | Refused | Adjudicated | Approval rate | Refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 33,762 | 4,456 | 38,218 | 88.34% | 11.66% |
| FY2024 | 45,986 | 5,481 | 51,467 | 89.35% | 10.65% |
| FY2023 | 52,435 | 6,660 | 59,095 | 88.73% | 11.27% |
| FY2022 | 25,743 | 2,759 | 28,502 | 90.32% | 9.68% |
| FY2021 | 1,262 | 271 | 1,533 | 82.33% | 17.67% |
| FY2020 | 22,844 | 1,933 | 24,777 | 92.2% | 7.8% |
| FY2019 | 46,440 | 3,453 | 49,893 | 93.08% | 6.92% |
| FY2018 | 52,310 | 4,125 | 56,435 | 92.69% | 7.31% |
| FY2017 | 29,727 | 2,046 | 31,773 | 93.56% | 6.44% |
Where these numbers come from. Approved is the count of B-1/B-2 visitor visas actually issued to South Africa, and both rates are published by the State Department for South Africa specifically. Adjudicated and Refused follow from those two: the adjusted refusal rate is defined as refusals minus overcomes over issuances plus refusals minus overcomes, so approvals divided by the approval rate gives the adjudications, and the difference is the refusals. An “overcome” is a refusal later resolved in the applicant’s favour the same year, so the refusal column is net of those.
Source: Adjusted Refusal Rate — B-Visas Only, by Nationality (U.S. Department of State).
Interview wait times, approvals across every visa type, and interview preparation, on one page.
US visas for South Africa →Totals by U.S. fiscal year, which runs October to September, so FY2025 covers October 2024 to September 2025. Refusals are not published for this visa class, so an approval rate cannot be shown.
33,544
FY2025
51,160
Peak (FY2018)
-27.4%
vs FY2024
Against every country that received a B1/B2 visa in FY2025.
#30
of 204 countries
33,531
Approved in FY2025
0.5%
Of the world total
6,370,304
Issued worldwide
B1/B2 visas issued at each post in FY2025, as a share of the 33,544 issued across South Africa.
B1/B2 visas approved per fiscal year, by post. The share chart shows who is largest today; this shows who is rising.
Average approvals per calendar month across 7 complete years. Busiest month is Oct, quietest is Dec.
Calendar months, not fiscal. A busy month means more applications competing for the same interview slots, not a better chance of approval.
B1/B2 interview prep
Nothing on this page changes your odds. What happens in the two minutes at the window does. Face a live AI visa officer for the B1/B2 as applicants in South Africa face it, answer out loud under follow-up pressure, and get a readiness score with feedback on every answer.
The figures above count everyone who was approved for a B1/B2 in South Africa. They say nothing about your case. Answer a few questions and get an assessment of your own profile, the areas most likely to cost you the interview, and what to do about each one.
Answer the questions below to get a read on your profile, grouped into short steps.
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Evaluating for B2 - Tourism Visa in South Africa.
Step 1 of 4
Questions 1–5 of 15
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Data Source: All visa approval statistics are compiled from the official U.S. Department of State’s annual visa statistics reports. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, visit the U.S. Department of State Visa Statistics.
Methodology: These are counts of visas issued, taken from the State Department’s monthly issuance tables. No approval rate is shown because refusals are not published per country or per post, and a rate cannot be calculated without them. Figures exclude cases under administrative processing and are subject to reporting delays.
Disclaimer: This website is not affiliated with the U.S. government. All data is provided for informational purposes only. For official guidance, always refer to the U.S. Department of State or your local U.S. embassy/consulate.
