kidvicious1 said:
Also good luck to Tow95 even though he has probably had the interview by now ... let us know
I haven't got near as much evidence as you had, so I hope they don't as for too much. It's so hard to get my name put on documents here when I am not a citizen, and my husband is only a student.
It went not so good. The interview itself was absolutely exhausting, and the IO went out of her way to give us a hard time. At the end we felt like it went well and the IO told us that she had a "good feeling" and that it "went well" she also told us we were a young couple but looked "mature" made small talk, etc etc. Then she changed her mind later that day.
She didn't refuse right away but implied she was going to. At the interview she didn't want any of the proof we brought, although she looked through our 150 photos in a big album. On the phone the next day she wanted everything, so we sent it all in. She told us we had until the end of Tuesday the 18th to prove that my husband is not in a bad faith marriage with me. we sent in everything we had, including all our cards (which we'll probably never get back :'().
If she refuses it will most likely be for these reasons:
-because my husband did badly in university 4 years ago and switched programs- then had to drop out of that program, she says his intentions are not good faith.
-He found out that he was colourblind in 2009, but the IO called his optometrist, who told her that my husband had his first vision test in 2008- she told my husband he was lying
-me and my husband met 2 years after he entered the country. We have more proof than anyone could want. She gave us about 4 hours to prove my husband's "intentions"- not fair.
-The IO was fixated on the culture of my husband's home country as being "male dominated"- she continually brought this up in relation to his studies, his attitude towards my job and independence, etc- I even explained to her that my husband's culture is NOT male dominated at all...but she seems to have a perception in her head that we can't disprove.
She gave us our office number, and we were so desperate we asked my landlord and neighbours to call in to talk to her...she was EXTREMEELY rude to one of our neighbours and hung up on him.
There were no inconsistencies between me and my husband when we were interviewed seperately (except for one misunderstanding - I thought one of his university programs was an intership when really it was a separate program. But, this was all finished months before we met and we both explained why the misunderstanding occurred. We answered everything exactly the same, even how we both want a family dog before having kids, and the fact that my husband's wedding ring is a bit too tight while mine is too big.
If she refuses we have 30 days to sell everything we own and get out of the country. we think it's likely that she will because we can't prove "intentions" from 4 years ago. However, from what I've heard we have a good chance of getting the IO's decision overturned by the Federal Court, because of procedural unfairness. We're looking into getting a lawyer in Toronto because that's where all the good ones are apparently. We can leave the country and be represented through the lawyer if we decide to go down that road. Based on what we've been through I can offer this advice about interviews:
-If you know there are things about your relationship that look suspicous, be prepared to answer them. But, be VERY AFRAID because what happens in the interview is essentially unpredictable. She can be as nice or rude as she wants. They don't just ask question, they continually imply things, and make statements like "this bothers me" and "this doesn't seem right to me"- They will find a topic to challenge you on, and keep coming back to it repeatedly.
-They will insinuate things to see how you react. As the sponsor, it was insinuated that my husband has managed to fake a 2 + year relationship with me for status, and the reason my husband's parents are nice to me is because they want status too.
-The IO insinuated basically the same to my husband.
-Don't use a consultant. We were told that the interview would be 15 minutes long, and my husband would get PR right there. Luckily we didn't take the advice given and prepared our answers to the complicated parts of our marriage extensively- but, neither of us were prepared to talk about my husband's studies from 4 years back, and why my husband's dad renewed his visa when he did.
-If you have work or any other committment after the interview, just take the day off. If your interview is anything like mine it's like having your teeth pulled out for 4 hours :-X I went into work the next day and had to leave after talking to the IO on the phone because I had a nervous breakdown. I took another day off on Thursday. This past week has been a nightmare.
We're visiting my family now so we'll try to have a good time before having to do all the other stuff.
Happy Holidays everyone!!!
