I'll pick up where you just left off. In fact, the targets have dropped. In 2008 the target was 18,000. It has dropped by 3,000 to 15,000. For spouses, the target has dropped from 50,000 to 42,000, so you have 8,000 fewer spouses coming in.
That's one of the reasons the wait times continue to grow. If you have fewer people being allowed in, then of course you have to wait longer.
But let me come back to the spousal sponsorship. I didn't know that age difference was.... That's quite amazing.
One figure I've seen, because I requested it, is from the Hong Kong visa post, where the turndown rate is more than 50%, which means that if you are going through the Hong Kong visa office, 5 out of 10 applications to sponsor a spouse will be rejected. It's hard to believe that 50% of them are marriages of convenience. A lot of them win at the appeal board, but they have to wait three to four years. Am I right?