Derived research
U.S. Visa Interview Difficulty Index
A transparent composite that combines applicant-reported question intensity with official refusal rates and appointment wait pressure across U.S. visa categories.
Index components
| Component | Source | Base weight | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question intensity | Applicant-reported interview corpus (this publication) | 40% | Live |
| Refusal rate | U.S. Department of State refusal-rate tables | 40% | Live |
| Wait pressure | U.S. Department of State appointment wait times | 20% | Live |
Index by visa category
| Visa group | Score (0–100) | Band | Component coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| K-1 Fiancé Visa | 56 | moderate | 2/3 |
| B-1/B-2 Visitor Visa | 54 | moderate | 3/3 |
| F-1 Student Visa | 49 | moderate | 3/3 |
| H-1B and Employment Visas | 41 | moderate | 3/3 |
Not yet rated: Naturalization (N-400) · CR-1/IR-1 Spouse Visa · Green Card and Adjustment of Status · Other U.S. Visa Categories. These categories are adjudicated as immigrant-visa or USCIS processes that the Department of State's nonimmigrant refusal and wait-time tables do not cover, so we do not score them from a single component.
Methodology
Each component is normalized to a 0–1 scale (higher = harder) and combined with base weights of 40% question intensity, 40% refusal rate, and 20% wait pressure. When a component is unavailable, weights are re-normalized over the available components and the result is flagged as partial. Question intensity is a min-max normalization of each group's leading reported-theme prevalence within release 2026.07.18-us-v1.
Full research methodology →How to interpret
The index summarizes observational patterns and official workload statistics. It is not a prediction of any individual outcome, not official government data, and not an assessment of any specific application. Percentages and scores describe the analyzed sample and published sources.
Underlying open datasets →