I asked my fiance to play with me, so naturally he used me as a referrer. I walked him through the tutorial, he accepted everything, but nothing else happened. Should there be a pop-up confirming anything?

I'm pretty sure referral points tick over when the new day starts, so wait until tomorrow. You should also make sure that he has at least 1 pet and at least 10k sP. c:

Referral points and notifications, unlike other forms of currency, are awarded at rollover/ Midnight subeta time.

I've referred 7 people in my nearly two years here, this has been the case all 7 times. c:

Yeah takes a day or so. I got points from one of my friends but the other I didn't because he never made any sP... he didn't like it here :(