Visa Operations Bring Record Achievements Worldwide

Office of the Spokesperson

The Department of State is committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the United States while maintaining high national security standards.  International visitors are instrumental in building people-to-people ties and bring enormous economic benefit to local communities and key sectors of the U.S. economy.  From October 2022 through September 2023 (the 2023 federal fiscal year), the Department of State issued a near record level of nonimmigrant visas – more than 10 million globally.  Half of our U.S. embassies and consulates adjudicated more nonimmigrant visas than ever before.

• In addition to our near historic total of more than 4 million nonimmigrant visas issued worldwide: We issued nearly eight million visitor visas for business and tourism, more than in any fiscal year since 2015.
• Preparing Americans for a global environment and attracting future leaders from abroad: International students at U.S. colleges and universities inject up to $38 billion dollars annually into the U.S. economy.
  • The Department issued more than 600,000 student visas, the highest in any year since FY 2017.
  • Our embassy and consulates in India issued an all-time record of more than 140,000 student visas.
  • The Department issued nearly 40,000 student visas to African students, of which more than 9,700 visas were to Nigerian applicants.
• Bolstering national and economic security: In recent years, international visitors have contributed as much as $239 billion in annual spending to the U.S. economy and supported an estimated 9.5 million American jobs.
  • We issued a record-breaking 442,000 visas to temporary and seasonal workers, addressing the need for workers in agriculture and other sectors where too few U.S. workers are available, contributing to the American economy while addressing the root causes of irregular migration.
  • We issued 590,000 nonimmigrant visas to high-skilled workers and executives to work alongside American experts in some of the United States’ most critical fields, ranging from emerging technology to healthcare.
  • We issued nearly 365,000 nonimmigrant visas to airline and shipping crew members, who are essential for maintaining global transportation and the supply chains that support the U.S. and global economies.
• Preparing for the future and investing in innovation: These achievements were possible because of innovative solutions, such as expanding interview waiver authorities that allow frequent travelers who meet strict national security standards to renew their visas without having to visit an embassy or consulate. Looking to the future, we are exploring new technologies to assess opportunities to streamline operations, such as the option of domestic renewal in select visa categories.

America is open for business, and U.S. visa operations support the nation every day.