I am collecting letters from friends/family for my spousal sponsorship package - how does this template sound?

[goldfinger]

Just as the title says - I'm trying to collect up some letters for my spousal sponsorship from friends/family to verify our relationship. I wanted the letters to have some consistency and guidance, as people don't always know what to put, while still allowing for personal touches. I was thinking of going with something like this -

"My name is [Your full name]. Goldfinger, the sponsor in this application, is my [relationship]. I have personally met Goldfinger's wife, the principal applicant in this application. I have known Goldfinger and his wife to be in a genuine and continuing relationship that began in the spring of 2011. They have been living together in the United States since [date], and were married on [date]. Though I was not present for the wedding, I was present for their reception that was held on [date]."

I don't remember exactly when our relationship started, as we developed feelings for each other over time, and since we got married (We've been married for 6.5 years now) we mainly focus on our wedding anniversary.

Basically, I was going to have anyone who provides a letter use the above verbiage, and then add their own personal details and experiences as they saw fit, such as times that they've visited us or times that we've visited them and that type of thing.

What are your thoughts?

 

[StellaArtois]

My husband and I also submitted letters from family/friends to verify our relationsihp as part of our spousal sponsorship application, and our lawyer specifically advised against having general templates. Granted, if you tell each of your family/friends doing the letters to add a lot of personalization, using the template you have above as a part of their letter could still be good. Here is the experience we had (including the advice from the immigration lawyer) with regards to letters...

The letters are better written in professional language. There's no set format from the government, but the lawyer recommended that each letter should be unique/personally written (i.e., do not just copy-paste letters and have each friend/family member sign off on a copy). Our lawyer recommended to include all of the following:
-date of writing/signing
-be addressed to IRCC (note that while some of our letters had a letter head including the IRCC address, others simply wrote "Dear IRCC Officer:"
-a brief introduction of the writer (name, professional background)
-how the letter writer knows you and your spouse, including specific details of how you met, when you met, how long you've known each other, how often you see each other/keep in touch
-times the letter writer has seen you and your spouse together, and times the writer spent with you and your spouse together
-affirmation of your genuine love for each other and the specific aspects of how they see that each of you are upstanding members of society and how you make a good couple
-if you are expecting the IRCC officer to consider your relationship to have "red flags" (e.g., cultural background difference, significant age gap, education level difference, short period of courtship, etc.), and your letter writers are comfortable addressing these things, have them write about how those "red flags" don't hinder you as a couple
-the contact information of the letter writer (phone number at a bare minimum, preferably also e-mail) so that the officer may (if they so choose) contact them to verify the person who wrote this letter is genuine
-the letter may be typed or hand-written (as long as the writing is easy to read), but ideally the letter should be signed by hand. Our lawyer stated that in the event that someone is unable to hand-sign the letter for any reason (one of our letter-writers could not provide a hand-written signature), they must provide their contact information in the letter so that the IRCC officer reviewing the case can contact them to verify the authenticity of the letter if needed

Our immigration lawyer also consulted with a senior criminal lawyer (since my husband has 4 criminal charges on his record), and with regards to the letters, the criminal lawyer recommended including a photocopy of the letter writer's photo ID so that the IRCC officer could have a face to the writer and feel more personal. Our immigration lawyer said that it is not necessary to do this, though you can. (We did not end up including photocopies of the writers' photo IDs.)

In terms of the quantity of letters, our immigration lawyer wouldn't give us a straight up answer about how many is recommended... when I said I could easily get 50 letters from my co-workers and friends and family however, the lawyer immediately said that 50 was far too many letters, and to restrict it to close friends and family so as to avoid overwhelming the IRCC officer.
In the end we only included 3 letters (one from my brother, my dad, and my husband's mom), all from close family members who attended our very small wedding and were shown in our photos. However, I'm sure that you could acceptably include more than that, especially if you do not have much in other types of proof (e.g., pictures, call/chat logs, shared bills/accounts, etc.).

The letters we submitted ended up being 1-2 pages long. There isn't a specified length maximum or minimum, but as long as your writers are clear, concise, and professional, it should be fine.

All of our letters were written in English and did not require translation or notarization. I am uncertain about the requirements for foreign language letters.

Hope that helps!

 

[goldfinger]

My husband and I also submitted letters from family/friends to verify our relationsihp as part of our spousal sponsorship application, and our lawyer specifically advised against having general templates. Granted, if you tell each of your family/friends doing the letters to add a lot of personalization, using the template you have above as a part of their letter could still be good. Here is the experience we had (including the advice from the immigration lawyer) with regards to letters...

The letters are better written in professional language. There's no set format from the government, but the lawyer recommended that each letter should be unique/personally written (i.e., do not just copy-paste letters and have each friend/family member sign off on a copy). Our lawyer recommended to include all of the following:
-date of writing/signing
-be addressed to IRCC (note that while some of our letters had a letter head including the IRCC address, others simply wrote "Dear IRCC Officer:"
-a brief introduction of the writer (name, professional background)
-how the letter writer knows you and your spouse, including specific details of how you met, when you met, how long you've known each other, how often you see each other/keep in touch
-times the letter writer has seen you and your spouse together, and times the writer spent with you and your spouse together
-affirmation of your genuine love for each other and the specific aspects of how they see that each of you are upstanding members of society and how you make a good couple
-if you are expecting the IRCC officer to consider your relationship to have "red flags" (e.g., cultural background difference, significant age gap, education level difference, short period of courtship, etc.), and your letter writers are comfortable addressing these things, have them write about how those "red flags" don't hinder you as a couple
-the contact information of the letter writer (phone number at a bare minimum, preferably also e-mail) so that the officer may (if they so choose) contact them to verify the person who wrote this letter is genuine
-the letter may be typed or hand-written (as long as the writing is easy to read), but ideally the letter should be signed by hand. Our lawyer stated that in the event that someone is unable to hand-sign the letter for any reason (one of our letter-writers could not provide a hand-written signature), they must provide their contact information in the letter so that the IRCC officer reviewing the case can contact them to verify the authenticity of the letter if needed

Our immigration lawyer also consulted with a senior criminal lawyer (since my husband has 4 criminal charges on his record), and with regards to the letters, the criminal lawyer recommended including a photocopy of the letter writer's photo ID so that the IRCC officer could have a face to the writer and feel more personal. Our immigration lawyer said that it is not necessary to do this, though you can. (We did not end up including photocopies of the writers' photo IDs.)

In terms of the quantity of letters, our immigration lawyer wouldn't give us a straight up answer about how many is recommended... when I said I could easily get 50 letters from my co-workers and friends and family however, the lawyer immediately said that 50 was far too many letters, and to restrict it to close friends and family so as to avoid overwhelming the IRCC officer.
In the end we only included 3 letters (one from my brother, my dad, and my husband's mom), all from close family members who attended our very small wedding and were shown in our photos. However, I'm sure that you could acceptably include more than that, especially if you do not have much in other types of proof (e.g., pictures, call/chat logs, shared bills/accounts, etc.).

The letters we submitted ended up being 1-2 pages long. There isn't a specified length maximum or minimum, but as long as your writers are clear, concise, and professional, it should be fine.

All of our letters were written in English and did not require translation or notarization. I am uncertain about the requirements for foreign language letters.

Hope that helps!

This is incredible advice, and I really appreciate it!

My wife and I have lots of proof. We've been married for 6.5 years and have lived together for the entire time. Hell, I immigrated to the United States on a fiance visa, so this isn't the first time that we've had to prove our relationship.

We have a lot of solid documents, such as proof of joint residency and that type of thing, so I'm pulling back a bit on the chat logs and that sort of stuff. If they need it or request more info, I'll give it to them, but I'm trying to stick to the checklist's outline.

This is super good information though. Thanks!

 

[StellaArtois]

That's great you've already proved your relationship once haha! I've also heard the US officials have more scrutiny/are more difficult to prove to than the Canadian ones, and plus now you even have more years of proof, so I'm sure you guys will be fine All the best in your immigration process!

 

[Chutsk10]

I agree with the above advice. Give your family/friends a list of things to include at a minimum but don't use a general template. Let the writer construct it how they want. You want the letters to be personalized and they will come across as more genuine.

Our immigration lawyer also advised us to include a copy of the writers photo ID. Preferably one with a signature that matches that on the letter. It helps show the writer is a real person.