How to Follow Up the Abu Dhabi Embassy for Visa Status?

Waiting for an update regarding our visa refusal is mentally tiring and frustrating at the same time. Since we got 221G without other documents being requested from us, we felt blind and paralyzed because we were just waiting for the embassy’s update, and the worst is we did not know when they would come back to us or how to follow up effectively with the Abu Dhabi Embassy.

The Wait

We have 180 days to wait until our 221G status is resolved – either approved or denied and every day since I got my refusal is like torture from the uncertainty. Every day is like battling with mental health and with our own thoughts. I would have checked the CEAC website multiple times in a day hoping to get an update but the same as previous days, the frustrations grew more and more since nothing is new, nothing’s happening. We’ve always watched out if our case was even updated even “Last date update” field changed because in that way we know that someone is working on our case, possibly in regards to how we’re handling the follow-up with the Abu Dhabi Embassy.

I always recall what the consular officer told me that he could not decide on that day of my interview and that he would check it once he became available. The question is when will he be available? Days past, 60 days is over and according to the information on the website, we could follow up if it reached that day. We sent an email follow-up to the embassy on September 17, 2024, sixty-one days from the date of my interview on July 18, 2024. It is also mentioned that if the follow-up was made prior 60 days period the email will be automatically deleted. We only received an automatic response.

How do we follow up with the Abu Dhabi Embassy for any Visa Status updates?

There’s a proper template for sending a follow-up email to the embassy. Below is the template we used in the email:

Note: The email needs to be sent following the example above. If the body is not in that order, it will be rejected by their automatic system. The “U11 – STATUS” is an inbox that only reply to users that have been waiting for more than 60 days. If you send an email to that inbox before then, it will be automatically rejected. Therefore, it’s crucial to know how to follow-up correctly with the Abu Dhabi Embassy.

We did not receive a response other than that automatic reply. So, our frustrations add up. We were hoping that they would reply eventually saying that our visa is still under process, but days passed without hearing anything from them. Simultaneously, we can see that our visa status’ last date update was changing, too. We thought this was because of the email we’ve sent. We have high hopes that we will get an update soon. However, weeks passed again, and we are yet to receive any update.

State Congress Acted Promptly and Efficiently

My fiancé decided to contact the state’s congress to ask for assistance. We both signed (petitioner and beneficiary) a Privacy Release Form so they can follow up with the embassy on our behalf regarding how to approach the Abu Dhabi Embassy for updates.

From the time the congress informed us that they contacted the embassy we can see that our case has frequent update the following days. My fiancé and I were discussing if our administrative process was completed by the embassy or probably the congress made them work on our case. In any case, we were extremely happy when the embassy replied to my follow-up email sent on October 4, 2024, instructing me to send my passport to the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi through In-Courier services.

Below is the timeline of our case update. For additional timelines of our journey, visit our K-1 visa process explained for couples blog post.

If you want to learn more about our interview process and the intimidating 221G received on the spot, check out our story here (Visa interview and 221G status | PinayRican).

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