Good day everyone, newbie here.
I am a PR and I am sponsoring my wife who is in the Philippines. I just have some confusion regarding the requirements and hoping someone could help.
A little background and context - we were boyfriend and girlfriend before I moved to Canada last 2015 (I actually became a PR on 2013, yet returned to the Philippines because of some commitments before finally settling here in 2015) and we just got married in the Philippines this last May 2017. Knowing that we already had plans to settle here, I already took the time several months ago before we got married to check the requirements for spousal sponsorship. I even asked some of my colleagues and friends here who had also sponsored their spouses for info they could provide. From what I've heard, aside from all the necessary forms and whatnot, we of course have to provide the proof of our relationship and some have said to provide massive amounts of proof such as photos, chat logs, emails, letters, mementos, keepsakes etc. which would result in hundreds of pages, as some also have mentioned that the more proof you provide, the faster the processing would take place. I even found this link in this forum which for me attested that claim to compile a lot of documents and photos for proof of the relationship (I believe they totaled 400+ pages).
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned.92449/ So we had already started to compile all our photos and chat logs and other proof that we could provide through the course of our relationship even before the wedding.
However, last night I actually just checked the document checklist for spouse visa IMM 5533 (apparently it was updated just this June) and was surprised to see in the Proof of Relationship section that in our case we only need to provide 10 pages for proof of contact, proof that I visited and a maximum of 20 photos, proof of financial support, and proof that the relationship is recognized by friends and family, all of which we won't have any problem providing.
In one of my google searches, I also found a different checklist IMM 5491 but it looks outdated and it didn't mention anything specific about the proof of relationship.
So my questions would be, is IMM 5533 the correct checklist for our case? If yes, do I ignore IMM 5491 and just strictly follow what is on IMM 5533? At any point in time will I have to provide the "big package" of proof to CIC or is it no longer necessary? If so would anyone be able to attest to the claim that providing more proof = faster processing time?
Any input would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know as well if I need to clarify anything.
Thank you!