Checked ECAS & Interview May 5!!!

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Hi everyone.  Thanks for the best wishes to you all.  My husband's interview was held at the Canadian Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, which was requested by the Paris Embassy.  We were there bright and early at about 8:40 am for my husband's 9:00 am interview, and there were many others waiting as well for their interview, but my husband told me he was the only one there for a sponsorship interview that the others were for work visa, visitor visa, etc.  I was told that although I was in Tunisia, they wouldn't be seeing me, just my husband, so I waited across the street in a coffee shop.  I was so nervous I could hardly hold my coffee cup.  My husband and I prepared ourselves as much as possible, trying to remember all the important dates, and going over the commonly asked questions from this forum, over and over again.  He took with him many more wedding photos and other photos of us together with his family and friends and our vacation together before our marriage, but she didn't want to see any of them saying that they already received enough photos in our initial application.  He also took further proof of our daily MSN and Skype chats since January of this year until just before I left for Tunisia, copies of text messages sent to each other which I emailed to myself, then printed off, and copies of all our long distance calls and texts to each other, which there were plenty of.  Although in the interview letter, they requested all proof since the beginning of our relationship, I no longer had all of this, so we just took with us everything since my 2nd package which I sent to Paris, at the beginning of the year, which, as it turned out, was all they wanted.  (just further proof that we continue to communicate on a daily basis).  The interview was about 45 minutes long, and the woman, my husband said, was very nice.  Although he had memorized all the dates, she never asked for any.  She asked things like 'what is my favourite colour, my favourite food, and other common questions to proof my husband knows me well.  But mostly, she asked him about our 20 year age difference and about my daughter, who is only 2 years younger than him.  She also asked about my religion, which is the same as my husband's, and his future plans in Canada.  She asked quite a few questions about our wedding, which we supplied plenty of photos of, and I also typed a 30 page journal of the 2 weeks I spent in August of last year, when we married, with my initial application.  We had a big, traditional Tunisian style wedding, so I am sure this wasn't an issue.  My family and friends did not attend my wedding and she asked why.  My husband told her my mom is ill, my brother doesn't have a passport or money, and no one else could go due to work, etc.  She seemed to accept this.  My husband also explained to her that I only can take 3 weeks vacation from my work each year, and this is why I couldn't spend a lot of time with my husband in the 2 trips I made there last year, although my work gave me an extra week holiday as a wedding gift.  She seemed to accept this too.  She asked about my work, and about my cleaning business that I started up last year after I came back from Tunisia the 1st time, wanting to know why I opened this business.  My husband told her it was for my retirement, and, to give him a job.  This seemed to be okay with her.  She didn't seem to try and trick him or initimidate him, in any way, which I've heard that others have had happened, and she seemed to have a positive attitude.  But, my husband did make a couple of mistakes that we are a little worried about.  He speaks Arabic and French, and English of course, but he speaks the most fluent in Arabic.  He requested the interview be in English (had to be English or French).  He misunderstood a few questions, one being, 'who proposed'?  Well, I documented in my application, that it was my 'husband' who proposed last February 14th, 2009, when we had gone our for dinner that night, but it was "I" who first brought up the subject of marriage back in November, 2008.  He thought she asked 'who first talked about getting married', but now he thinks she was asking 'who actually proposed', and there is a big difference.  I'm not sure if this will effect the outcome or not as we have so much proof of our marriage being genuine, but this question I believe, is a 'biggie'!  He also said when asked about our first meeting on the internet, that he was 'new' to the internet and the first day he went online, he met me.  This isn't exactly true, and I'm not too sure why he said this (and neither is he-nerves maybe).  He was knew to the internet, but in his letter with our application, that someone else had typed for him, he said that he use to go down to the internet cafe every day after work to talk to friends online, then he met me a couple of weeks later.  Again, I don't know what they will think of this.  I'm afraid they will think he is liing maybe, and this isn't good.  When asked what thing(s) he doesn't like about me, he said he doesn't like the fact that I move around in bed too much and she laughed.  He said he thought it was because of the time difference from Canada to Tunisia, is why I had trouble sleeping. lol.  He also told her that I use to much salt in my fried chicken, but he thinks I am a good cook.  She also asked him about whether he wants children or not, as my childbearing years are basically over, and he said that 'he could marry a Tunisian woman, and maybe she wouldn't become pregnant so if it's not God's will, then so be it.  He said he can be happy without children.  She also asked how I can communicate with his mother and family, since they don't know English and I don't know Arabic or French, and he said that his sister is an English teacher and would translate sometimes, and so did my he.  She asked about my best friend and how long I've known her for, and this was another question he got wrong.  He said I've known her for 44 years, when in fact, it's about 38 years.  She also asked a lot about his work and we're not sure why.  He works parttime right now at a car rental agency and she asked him a lot of questions about what he does exactly at this agency.  She wanted to know who paid for and planned our wedding, and my husband said that he did it all.  She wanted to know why I didn't help plan it, and he said because I asked for a Tunisian style wedding, and since I was in Canada and don't know anything about Tunisian weddings, he did it all but that I had picked out my wedding dress when I was there.  She was reading over our Skype and MSN during the interview too, and started to ask him questions about some of the things we had talked about, maybe to test his memory, I don't know.  She asked about 30 questions in all, but my husband gave some answers, before he was asked.  She gave him back his passport, and said she would be sending all the paperwork to Paris and that she had to read over all the new 'proof' before she would make a decision.  She said that he might have to re-do his medicial which expires July 29th, if a decision is made by then.  This is all I know and all my husband can remember about the interview but my husband said he had a good feeling when he left.  Now we wait. (again)  But, I am optimistic that everything will be fine, and we will soon see 'decision made' on ECAS, but who knows.  I'm flying back to Canada this Saturday and inshallah, my husband will be joining me soon.  Good look to everyone else who is still waiting for their interview and the outcome of their spouses application. 

Edited by tunisianbride - 06 May 2010 at 10:27am