Vatican City → United States

Visitor visa (B1/B2) refusal rate, FY2006–FY2025

FY2025 refusal rate0.00% no change vs FY2024

Global rank#198 of 198 nationalities

vs FY2019-8.33 points, against pre-pandemic

Year-to-year swing±14.96 typical annual move

Vatican City's adjusted refusal rate for US visitor (B) visas was 0.00% in FY2025. That ranks 198 of 198 nationalities — higher than 1% of countries. It held flat 0.00 points from 0.00% in FY2024. Against FY2019, the last pre-pandemic year published, it is 8.33 points lower. Over the 18 published years its highest was 33.30% (FY2013) and its lowest 0.00% (FY2006). Within Europe it ranks 46 of 46.

For context, across all nationalities in FY2024 the US refused 27.8% of B1/B2 applications and 41.0% of F-1 student applications. Those are worldwide figures — the government does not publish an F-1 refusal rate for Vatican City or for any single country. Why not.

One or more years show a printed 0.00%. In the source that is ambiguous — it means either every application was issued, or there were no applications at all. We do not render it as a 100% approval rate.

The full published history

Get told when this changes

The State Department publishes these figures once a year with no announcement, and has skipped years entirely. We check the source daily and will email you when the number for Vatican City moves. No newsletter, no marketing — just the data changing.

Closest peers by current rate

Country	FY2025	Rank
Liechtenstein	0.00%	#196
Monaco	0.00%	#197
United Arab Emirates	2.17%	#195
Cyprus	2.55%	#194
Uruguay	2.59%	#193

Europe

Country	FY2025	Rank
Moldova	44.76%	#66
Russia	40.38%	#74
Albania	37.32%	#85
Kosovo	35.00%	#91
Ukraine	33.92%	#92
Montenegro	33.41%	#93
Belarus	26.58%	#108
North Macedonia	25.55%	#111

Visitor medical insurance

A US visitor visa carries no insurance requirement, but US medical costs are the main uninsured financial risk of the trip — a single emergency admission routinely runs into five figures. Most visiting parents buy a fixed-benefit or comprehensive plan for the length of stay. Typical cost for a 61–65 year old is roughly $130–200 per month.

VisitorsCoverage — Marketplace comparing visitor medical plans from multiple US insurers. (link not configured)
Insubuy — Long-running US visitor and travel medical insurance marketplace. (link not configured)

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy a policy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It does not change the statistics on this page, which come from published government data.

Every published year

Fiscal year	Refusal rate	Change
FY2006	0.00%	—
FY2007	0.00%	+0.00
FY2008	16.70%	+16.70
FY2009	7.10%	-9.60
FY2010	14.30%	+7.20
FY2011	11.80%	-2.50
FY2012	0.00%	-11.80
FY2013	33.30%	+33.30
FY2014	7.70%	-25.60
FY2015	25.00%	+17.30
FY2016	0.00%	-25.00
FY2019	8.33%	+8.33
FY2020	0.00%	-8.33
FY2021	0.00%	+0.00
FY2022	14.29%	+14.29
FY2023	14.29%	+0.00
FY2024	0.00%	-14.29
FY2025	0.00%	+0.00

FY2017 and FY2018 are absent because the State Department never published them.

Source

US Department of State, Calculation of the Adjusted Visa Refusal Rate for Tourist and Business Travelers Under the Guidelines of the Visa Waiver Program, FY2006–FY2025. One PDF per fiscal year. Primary source ↗

The adjusted rate is (refusals − overcomes) ÷ (issuances + refusals − overcomes), counting each applicant once per fiscal year at final status and excluding cases that required a waiver of ineligibility. Rank, change, volatility and peer figures on this page are computed by us from that data and are not published by the government.