Explaining Evidence

[SamN4]

Hi,

Weeks away from Submitting ... Anyhow, just curious if it's necessary to create a write up explaining what everything is in detail. I.e "this is my boarding pass from the last visit"... "this is a card I sent for 2004 birthday" "these are our emails from 2006" "this is the house we lived in together"......

explaining all the pictures, who, what, when, where.........

and so on..

Is it too much or an absolute must.?

Thanks

 

[confusednscared]

Things that are not self-explanatory I have explained just to make it easier for the IO who is reviewing my case. I am pretty sure a Boarding Pass is a boarding pass and they can differentiate between that and a regular ticket.

I explained my pictures and the people in the pictures including event, approximate time it took place and who the people were.

Other stuff like bills and such I think are self explanatory ..... a bank statement with both your names from TD Canada Trust, again, self explanatory. However, a statement of bill from a company not so well known, especially NON CDN should be somewhat explained. For example: Statement with logo ICICI Bank ... im sure you got the point

Just use your inner gut instinct and choose that which you feel should be explained.

 

[SamN4]

Thank you kindly

for the photos did you write on the back?

 

[esperando]

I wrote a short explanation for everything, even if it was completely obvious.

ex) phone bill addressed to me at husband's house, congratulations card from *** (aunt & uncle), boarding pass from my visit to Canada in June'07, etc...

Of course as confusednscared said, pictures and things that are not self-explanatory I gave more detailed (but still concise) explanations for.

For photos (and everything else, actually), I taped them with two-sided tape to a blank sheet of paper and wrote my "captions" underneath or next to them.

It's kind of a pain, but I really wanted to make it as quick and painless as possible for whoever was looking at our application. I figured processing times were long enough as it was, so why make it worse?

 

[boyee6576]

I photo copied alot of the photos and wrote beside the picture where the picture was taken and who was in the photo. I did that for every photo that I sent and all documents to prove our relationship

 

[sbwv09]

I wrote on the back of my pictures but some people printed them two to a page and typed explanations that way. As long as it's clear who, what, when and where it should be good

For my general 'package' of evidence I typed up an index and did most of the explaining that way. The pictures are the only things I explained individually because everything else was pretty clear with the index.

 

[heatherusa]

I did an excel spreadsheet and categorized it - such as: bank statements showing our joint names and then the years. Insurance policies - then listed them and stated the beneficiary.

I also wrote on the backs of the pictures what they were.

I also included a written narrative of our history together (14 years is a helluva longtime to write about). That tied together all of the documents and the information we wrote about in our answers to the questions in the application.

Good luck

 

[SamN4]

Thank you all,

Ill play it safe and assume they assume nothing

Thanks

 

[confusednscared]

wow you guys, the ideas are phenomenal. I really wished I had come across this website when I was doing my application. I did most of what you said but excel spreadsheets and having my friends and family include their own personal pictures of us is a really good idea ....


Oh, be sure to go through your phone records and highlight only the calls you two made .. makes it much easier for the IO when reviewing evidence.

 

[canadianwoman]

I put the supporting evidence (photocopied) all together and numbered the pages. Then at the front I had an index. For example:
1. pages 1 - 60: telephone bills
2. page 61: screenshot of my email inbox showing emails from my husband
3. pages 62 - 75: a selection of emails from my husband
4. page 76 - 81: receipts for gifts I gave my husband

etc.

 

[SamN4]

Has anyone written or typed directly onto their copies of documents?

For example I have bills that are not self explanatory, I've scanned them, but before I print out the scans I want to lay txt over them explaining what they are..

good idea? I don't want them to think i've doctored the documents.....

Thanks

 

[sbwv09]

No, I made notes on some of the copies of bills, etc. Don't think that's a problem