What is the approval rate for the O-1A visa today? (2026 USCIS data)

The most common objection tech founders raise about the O-1A visa is that it's impossible to get. The actual 2026 USCIS data tells a completely different story. The O-1A is currently one of the most stable immigration pathways available.

Facing the $100,000 corporate fee and the dismal odds of the 2026 wage-weighted H-1B lottery, international startup founders are searching hard for alternatives. The O-1A is the mathematical frontrunner: no cap, no randomized lottery, and self-sponsorable through your own startup. But because the legal standard sounds intimidating, plenty of applicants assume the rejection rate must be brutal.

USCIS's own performance data says otherwise.

The 91.2% reality

As of the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, the overall approval rate for O-category nonimmigrant petitions sits at 91.2%. That's not an anomaly. The O-1 classification has held above 89% every year since FY2020, closing out FY2025 at 93.9%.

Reading the O-1A volume and approval trend

The chart above tracks O-1A specifically, not the broader O-1 category, across four years. In FY2021, USCIS received 7,710 O-1A applications and approved 7,320 of them, a 91% rate. That volume climbed steadily: 9,970 applications in FY2022 at a 94% approval rate, then 10,010 in FY2023 at 92%, holding around 10,500 applications through the FY2024–2025 window with approval sitting in the 91–93% range.

Worth flagging directly: this is different from the O-1 category as a whole, which includes O-1B for individuals in arts and entertainment and runs a much larger total volume, close to 32,000 petitions in FY2025 across both subcategories combined. The O-1A-specific numbers in this chart are the ones that actually matter if you're a founder or engineer filing under the extraordinary ability in sciences, business, education, or athletics track. Whichever figure you see cited elsewhere, check which subcategory it's describing before comparing it to anything here.

The pattern holds regardless of which slice you look at: rising volume, and an approval rate that has stayed in a tight 91–94% band for four straight years even as filings grew by roughly 35%. That's not a program getting easier or harder. It's a program adjudicating consistently.

The green card plunge

The stability of the O-1A looks even more striking next to the current chaos in the employment-based green card categories. Throughout 2025 and into 2026, USCIS adjudicators have sharply increased scrutiny during the final merits determination phase for permanent residency.

EB-1A, the extraordinary ability green card, fell from roughly 67% in FY2025 to 47.5% in early FY2026. EB-2 NIW dropped to approximately 42.6% over the same window.

For ambitious engineers and founders, jumping straight from F-1 OPT to an EB-1A or NIW filing is riskier than it's been in years. The O-1A works as a genuinely high-probability bridge visa while you continue building your permanent residency case on a stronger foundation.

The H-1B "98%" illusion

You might look at USCIS data and see the H-1B I-129 approval rate sitting near 98% for FY2025 and FY2026. Don't let that number mislead you.

That 98% applies strictly to petitions that already cleared the lottery. The actual selection rate in the FY2026 lottery for entry-level Master's degree holders was roughly 15%. The 98% figure describes what happens after you've already won a random draw most applicants lose. The O-1A has no lottery stage at all. Meet the criteria, and you get the visa.

Helpful links from the Gnosis content team

• The self-sponsorship loophole: how to structure your startup's board of directors so you can sponsor your own O-1A visa.
• Extraordinary ability in AI: the exact translation matrix for modern software engineering achievements.
• O-1A vs. H-1B: why the O-1A is mathematically the stronger bet under the 2026 lottery.

📚 Official Sources & Data Verification (2026)

All approval rates and petition volumes are verified against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data:

• O-1A Specific Data: According to USCIS data, the O-1A visa approval rate has remained remarkably stable, with approval rates of 91% in 2021, 94% in 2022, 92% in 2023, and ranging between 91-93% for the 2024-2025 period.
• Volume & Growth: The volume of O-1A applications has shown steady growth, climbing from 7,710 in 2021 to over 10,500 in the 2024-2025 cycle.
• Consistent Adjudication Standards: Due to its lack of an annual quota and consistently high approval rate (above 90%), the O-1A is a top choice for global talent in the sciences, education, business, or athletics.

Frequently asked questions

Does a 91% approval rate mean the O-1A is easy to get? 

No. That high approval rate mostly reflects self-selection. Because the evidentiary burden is substantial — hundreds of pages of documentation, press clippings, expert letters — weak cases are generally filtered out by immigration attorneys before they're ever filed. The rate measures the outcome for well-prepared petitions, not the raw difficulty of the standard.

What is the Request for Evidence rate for the O-1A? 

In early FY2026, the RFE rate for O-category petitions ran around 24%, meaning roughly one in four applicants gets asked for additional documentation before a final decision. Of those, about 71% are ultimately approved after the response is submitted, so an RFE is a delay to plan for, not a sign the case is failing.

Can I pay for premium processing on an O-1A? 

Yes. USCIS raised the premium processing fee for Form I-129, which covers the O-1 category, from $2,805 to $2,965, effective March 1, 2026. At that price, USCIS guarantees a decision or an RFE within 15 calendar days, which makes the O-1A drastically faster than waiting out standard H-1B processing timelines.