I talked with Jereme the other day, and he reported that the wedding in Calgary went well, especially well considering how quickly everything was put together. Unfortunatly, now that he's back in the United States, the politicians (Senator Hagel's(R-NE) office was helpful in trying to get things expedited early in the crisis) have lost interest and Shankari's return to the country now looks to be a matter of months, rather than weeks. Out of fairness to Senator Hagel, it was one of his aides who took interest in the case not the Senator himself, and that aide has since gone on vacation - leaving someone behind who is less intereted in being helpful. It's not as if the Senator has suddenly adapted a policy that government should be hard to work with. This is still better than the response from Jereme's local Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA 4th Dist, Assistant Majority Whip) - who I don't believe made any significant effort at all on the couple's behalf in spite of a request for aid.
Jereme's local paper, the Tri-City Hearld (which serves Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington) ran an editorial on the fiasco, Bride's plight shows absurdity of U.S. policy, lamenting the fact that the immigration system is so obtuse and slow that it effectively incentivises law-breaking.
***EDIT***
I thought this comment that Jereme posted should be moved up into the main post:
I'd just like to say that I did appreciate what help I got from the Representative's and Senator's offices. I don't think it was a lack of desire to help that resulted in nothing happening. It's just the way things are, I guess.