Well, I've been back home for a week. I figured I should write something about our interview.
My wife and I arrived in Hong Kong on the 10th of April. Our interview was on the morning of the 11th. The appointment said 7:30am so we arrived at the consulate at 7. We were the second people there behind a mother and young son. The sign on the door said that they don't open until 8 so we stood and waited for an hour. By 8, there was a good 30 people in the line, including quite a few interpreters.
We signed through security and got a number quickly. We were called to an interview room at around 9. There were 2 chairs, but the interviewer didn't want us both in the room at the same time. She asked me a few general questions, but said that the interview was for my wife and they would only talk to me out of courtesy since I was there.
In retrospect, I should have spent that time explaining my plans for when my wife comes to Canada, but I honestly didn't think it was needed - we supplied 2 large stacks of evidence that should have spoken for itself.
I left the room and let my wife take my place with the translator beside her. They were only in there about 30 minutes. When they came out, it was obvious it was denied. They tested her english ability which was very low. They asked her a lot of questions, but she was scared to answer about my family since she was afraid to make a mistake - which was a huge mistake. She was very nervous and I wasn't there to reassure her.
We weren't given a chance to argue and I wasn't given the chance to defend her - when I turned to look into the room, it was empty. My wife had a paper with reasons that our application was denied: They were not satisfied that our marriage is genuine and they were not satisfied that the primary reason for our marriage was other than for the purpose of gaining admission to Canada.
I now have 3 weeks to appeal or our case will be closed.
The translator told us that she needed more English skill. She mentioned that the interviewer seemed confused why my parents didn't attend our wedding - my 75 year old retired parents. She mentioned proof of support was not enough to prove it was a real relationship. She mentioned that we don't communicate enough, yet they kept all 1000 pages of our chat logs (although they gave us back a lot of our other evidence). They didn't take into account the fact that I had visited my wife 6 times including our first meeting, spent a total of 10 weeks together, or that many of those weeks were spent with her family, without a translator.
I'm trying to contact an immigration lawyer and there's an immigration help center in Kamloops that offers free advice and help. I have no idea what the timeline is like for an appeal. One of the questions on the form asks if I need an interpreter. I do if it's in Hong Kong again, not if it's in Canada. I'll check the box and deal with it when I know more.
