Your best bet is to involve an attorney. I had a similar experience, and it took me over 6 months, and nowhere on the paperwork. Eventually we had an attorney involved, who did the various paperwork, correspondence, and all in all, a year later she had her settlement visa. It is very time consuming and with the changes in the law at present it would be my best advice. From a cost perspective, it was costly, but worth it in the end.