Hey Shiny, take it easy, you are already on the interview list, so you will get the interview, 6 months is just a half way. People from Vietnam like us have to wait 14-18 months to get the call for interview (on the letter they even said 24 months waiting).
Like you, I regrette not to figure out the process carefully before I sent the application. I didn't even have a marriage ceremony, which people warned as a critilcal thing, just registre with the authority, so the chance that i would skip the interview is very slim, meaning that I may wait for at least another 2 years to reunite with my family. The process is really ridiculus. However, The best thing we could do is well prepare for the interview, fill all the gaps, prove them that the relationship is genuine, serious even how "different" they may see your marriage.
I know all these things mean nothing in relationship, but the agents were trained to think "logically", so they will find the weakness to attack - as in the three year after parent die tradition exemple (no law allows such foolish tradition, you can get marrige even on the same day parent die) , and to force us to prouve the genuinity of the marriage.
About the money motivation for sponsorship approval, I don't think it is justified. I know many non- wealthy people skipped the interview and got the visa after 10 months. Fighting against the fraudulent Marriage is the real thing; We, unfortuantely, have no choice but to cope with it even though there are better way to prevent these "crime" :-X. At this very moment, someone offers the fake marriage for 20.000$. What can we do about it
Et moi aussi, je parle francais, y a quelqu'un a Montreal ici?
I don't even look at the tv if there is any snakes in the show...
