Free US immigration self-help guides, example forms, community discussion, case tracking & estimated approval dates!

Hi everyone,

I d appreciate input from those with experience in 221(g) administrative processing, especially cases with multiple CEAC updates.

Case basics:

• Immigrant Visa (EB-based), Consular Processing

• Embassy: Santo Domingo

• CEAC status: Refused (221g Administrative Processing)

• Passports: submitted and currently with the embassy

• No additional documents requested

• Principal and derivative cases now updating together

• My nationality: Colombian (born in Venezuela)

• Spouse s nationality: Venezuelan

Short timeline:

• Dec 14, 2025: Interview placed under 221(g)

• Feb 18, 2025: Requested 221(g) documents submitted

• Throughout 2025: Several Case Last Updated changes, no status change

• Dec 2 3, 2025: Passports submitted and processed

• Dec 16, 23, 30, 2025: CEAC updated multiple times

• Late Dec: CEAC stopped accepting NA/NA and now requires real passport data

• Jan 7, 2026: Another CEAC update, still shows Refused

Questions:

1. Is this pattern (frequent updates + passports retained + still Refused ) typical before Issued in 221(g) cases?

2. For those who ve been through this, how long did it stay as Refused before changing to Issued ?

3. Based on real experience (not speculation), could recent Trump immigration policies affect a consular EB case already at this stage, considering our nationalities?

4. At this point, is it better to keep waiting or to email the consulate after a certain amount of time?

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share real-world experience.

After a delay of years, my in-law (who we are sponsoring) will finally have a green card consular interview in Guangzhou, China (somewhere between 2 weeks and 2 months from now). Since we filled out our information with the NVC years ago, both my spouse and I have gotten new, much better paying jobs. We are now way over the minimum income requirements to sponsor (we were over those requirements, but not by much, when we filled out the NVC material). My in-law's spouse is also now here on a green card and has employer benefits, including health insurance that would cover my interviewing in-law.

I seem to remember that a few years ago the consensus was that in such a situation (i.e. where we have had changes for the better in financial situation), the general consensus was to not try to update things in the NVC website (since this could cause a delay) but instead to write statement letters (with evidence such as W-2s, etc.) and have my interviewing in-law take copies of these with them to the interview. And then that the consular officer might ask us to update the system afterwards. Is this still the general consensus?

Any other tips/advice would be appreciated as well. My interviewing in-law is over 55 and so if there are new things that we should be thinking about in terms of health, insurance or even a letter of interest in hiring them from a prospective employer (my company's cafeteria has expressed interest in hiring them should they arrive with a green card), thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Thank you all!

Hello,

I'm wondering if there will be any need of spouse to be in country of consulate interview BEFORE the consulate there receives the case from NVC.

Hello, I booked my k-1 visa interview appointment last week, and noticed that I used a different Ds-160 number for scheduling my appointment and the one I sent to the consulate via mail. Is there gonna be any issues at all regarding them being different, both info on Ds-160 numbers are the same. Do I need to cancel and create a new application with the same ds-160 number( the one i sent to the consulate).

in the n400 interview, does the officer ask about if you rent or own your house?

i ask because i'm thinking of selling my house and moving into a rental but i don't want that to look like we are somehow less permanent in the US

thx