US embassy tourist visa appointment pending
Hi All,
Looking for advice or shared experiences from anyone who's dealt with something similar.
I applied for a US nonimmigrant visa through the US Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. My interview was back in August 2025. Since then, my case has shown a status of "Refused" on CEAC (which I understand often just means administrative processing / 221(g), not an actual denial), and I submitted all the additional documents that were requested shortly after.
Since then:
I've sent multiple follow-up emails to the embassy asking for an update
I have received no response at all — not even an acknowledgment
The CEAC status hasn't changed since it was first updated
It's now been almost a year with zero communication.
Has anyone else experienced administrative processing that dragged on this long with total silence from the embassy?
Did contacting your Congressional representative (if applicable) or using the State Department's public inquiry form help?
Is there a point where a case is more or less considered abandoned/stalled versus still "in process"?
Any tips for getting an actual human response from Lisbon specifically?
Appreciate any insight — mostly just trying to figure out if this is normal or if I should be escalating somewhere.