Chat and E-mail Records

[Fencesitter]

Hi all,

I have loads and loads of Gmail chat records with my wife. I have lots of e-mails and other supporting documentation. Question, what if some of the language in the chats is 'colourful'? (i.e. f%$k etc.)? Will this impact the application, or should I not include them? I want to print and include every single chat and e-mail to overwhelm the VO and prove that my marriage is totally genuine...

Ideas?

Thanks.

 

[moochops]

hahaha that made me laugh - only because when I was putting our application together I considered printing off FB messages from when we first met.

Then after reading through them I decided it probably wouldn't be such a good idea (read into that what you will )

If you guys are married then I don't neccesarily think you would need them - though you could if it made you feel better take a sample of the clean ones (or even black out the naughties) for the period you need to.

I couldn't do that as most of our earlier messages would have included me sending a black page !!!!

Good luck
x

 

[Irishladyloo]

Yeah, we were going to do this but I think decided to ONLY do it if we thought it was absolutely needed. We would have been prepared to offer this if they asked for additional evidence. Talk about 'ask at your own risk' type situation!

 

[CharlieD10]

LOL, you don't need to send everything. Just samples will do fine, and let them know additional material is available for review if they like.

 

[Fencesitter]

Right, so I guess samples of chats and e-mails will suffice. I started compiling everything this afternoon, and then I realized that if I include everything, it will take a container to send to Canada. So, I will go with the samples and let CIC know that we have loads more if they would like to see.

I also wanted opinions on whether I should be getting letters from friends and family stating that they know of our relationship, that our marriage is real, and other details. I already have letters from colleagues at work, friends, and my family back home. How many of these kinds of letters should I include?

I read through a post on here that showed someones organized documents before sending to Canada. It kind of made me think that I need to provide basically everything I have in order to prove our case. I never expected to have to go to such lengths, especially since we have been living together since 2006 and have two dogs and a newborn baby. We didn't save all our movie stubs and airline tickets, but then again, I never thought that stuff would be necessary. I do have e-mail confirmations and vouchers for some of our travels, including flights, hotels, and some places where we did the tourist thing.

The actual immigration forms are not that complicated, well, after seeking advice from some of you. What a big help this forum is! The main thing I have to organize is our pictures and supporting documentation. There's a mountain of stuff in our spare bedroom!

Oh, and a few months ago I was in contact with a few banks to enquire about mortgages and any special programs they have for immigrants. Would those be useful to include?

Cheers!

FS

 

[DCGelfling]

You might also consider taking screenshots of the results when you search in gmail for your wife's email address, to show how often you chat without showing the content. I still probably wouldn't print more than a few sample pages from random months, though. I think our search results alone might triple the size of our app if we printed all of them. ;D

 

[cantor2537]

Key is to send snippets from different time periods, on different trips and with family members, friends, etc if you have them. There's nothing worse than sending 100 pics of the same place of you guys in different poses wearing the same clothes.

We sent about 100 pics, from our 7 years together, pics of us with her friends, my friends, her fam, my fam etc we sent Skype call logs, about 150 pages double sided, that was what was the heaviest part of our file. We also sent movie and airline ticket stubs, etc. we sent only a few emails because we did not communicate on email a lot. To make things easier you may consider including a photo book that you can order online

On hindsight, we probably overdid it, given that we are both pretty young and very wealthy and she would have no advantage arranging a fake marriage to Canada from the US, but we wanted to be absolutely sure, because in the end you never know who will look at your file and whether or not they are having a bad day. She has been harassed by prick border Canadian border guards enough every time she comes to visit me that we didn't want to take any chances.

 

[Irishladyloo]

I also included a LOT of photos. I'm talking 200. In hindsight, probably too many, but we mainly did it because we decided not to include any emails/chat logs/texts and we spent a lot of our time as a couple travelling about. We had one year of continuous co-habitation at the time of applying but have been together for nearly four years. We wanted to show the continuity of our relationship through the photos, especially since they were the only way to really prove we had been in constant contact and we still don't have a single shared account for phone, internet, bills, rent, etc. About 20 of these photos were photographs of the pages of a scrapbook we made on our first Valentine's Day together. This included ticket stubs, airline boarding cards, hotel receipts, brochures from tours we went on etc. so we didn't include any of that stuff in the application, just photos of it. The others were photos of us at recognizable places (Banff, Buckingham Palace, etc.), at each other's houses, and having a good time with each other's family and friends (for example, we included photos of just me and his mum, or photos of him and my sister hanging out without me). Even with 200 photos, our lawyer said that while ours was a big application, we were no where near some of her other clients. They sent whole cartons of stuff! And I thought we were bad!

 

[canadianwoman]

I also wanted opinions on whether I should be getting letters from friends and family stating that they know of our relationship, that our marriage is real, and other details. I already have letters from colleagues at work, friends, and my family back home. How many of these kinds of letters should I include?

The less proof you have, the more letters you should use. It sounds like you have a lot of proof already, so no letters would probably be OK. Just to be safe, I would send at least one from one of her relatives, one from one of your relatives, and one from a mutual friend. There is no harm in sending more, though.

We didn't save all our movie stubs and airline tickets, but then again, I never thought that stuff would be necessary. I do have e-mail confirmations and vouchers for some of our travels, including flights, hotels, and some places where we did the tourist thing.

I'd mention all the trips taken together, and use whatever proof you have.

Oh, and a few months ago I was in contact with a few banks to enquire about mortgages and any special programs they have for immigrants. Would those be useful to include?

Your emails to them, and any replies, would be good evidence of two things: that your relationship is genuine, and that you intend to return.