There is nothing to lose by going to the MOI, particularly, if your MIL can put you in touch with someone there. I have one friend who was told that he should have been interviewed by the time he went but his application had inexplicably been overlooked. He was put on the list soon afterwards. In my own case I went to the MOI twice before my interview. The first time was 3.5 years after my application because I had been informed that I had reached the top of the wait list for the interview but the MOI had reviewed the file and found that SB had made a mistake in my application by referencing a wrong section of the Nationality Act in the covering letter which meant I could not be interviewed. I went there and met the head of the nationality section who agreed it was not my fault and allowed my file to go back to SB for correction instead of just rejecting me. So I lost 6 months and had to submit some updated documents and a new salary letter. Later I was called to the MOI again because they had found another mistake made by SB. This one was easier to remedy by bringing along a document that SB had failed to submit, even though I had given it to them. In that case the head of the nationality section called my mobile herself and I met her again at the MOI. By the time of the interview I had built a decent rapport with her. She sat next to me at the interview and asked most of the questions in a very pleasant way. If you applied in 2023, you are not behind current waiting times, as they are now interviewing people who applied in 2019 and 2021. However, if it is not too much of a sacrifice of time and money, it is usually worth the effort to go to the MOI, as long as you can meet someone there. One friend had the misfortune to rock up there when they were doing interviews and they said they were too busy to talk to him.
