Hard to say how much "evidence" is enough...

[Moonlightprancer]

So My husband I met online in 1999 and we did not save our conversations at that time. looking back i wish i had. We are in the stages of collecting evidence of our friendship/ dating/ marriage. We recently were married in March 2010 and he is currently living in the USA and I am Canadian living in Canada. We will send an OUTLAND package. My question is how do you know when you have enough evidence . I don't want to overdo it but I don't want them to slow the process down by wanting more evidence of our relationship either. So far i have collected as many documents including emails, plane tickets, ticket stubbs, pics, family letters and beneficiary info etc. We do not live together yet, therefore have no bills in the same name. Any ideas on how much we should have? We have known each other since 1999 and physically met in 2005. Pretty hard to say it is not bonified relationship seeing we have everything from 2005- now .

Suggestions? I really don't want to over do it but How much is enough??

Also does anyone know if He can take the medical exam when he is visiting in Canada? Or does it have to come from the USA? There is no mention of this on the CIC website.

Warm regards
moonlight

 

[jayde]

He can have the medical done when he visits Canada. My husband and his daughter did here in Alberta. Go ahead and call the numbers near your area and ask what they charge... there is a HUGE range in prices, but every one was cheaper than if he had done it in the States... not to mention the fact that not every state has a DMP and he was going to have to go out of state to find one who was allowed to do the exam.

Hope that helps

 

[angelbrat]

Just send EVERYTHING....there is no such thing as too much for CIC.

Send a cover letter from the heart, something that is not contrived nor taken from a book, it does not matter if the grammar and spelling is rubbish, just make sure it comes from YOU and HIM......if that makes sense.

IO`s are human too and I am sure they can spot a fake from a genuine easily. I know from reading this forum, that I can gather a pretty good idea of those that are genuine and those that are not and I am an amateur.

Good luck with your application, for what it is worth you seem pretty genuine to me.

 

[Cdagal]

We sent in all the required information..pictures, emails, chat logs, receipts, letters from family and friends, etc...but I truly believe that what made the IO issue the visa was that we put our hearts into our application and showed them what we truly mean to each other. We each wrote a development of relationship from our own perspective - written in our own words, to help them understand who we are to one another. The grammar was a mess, but the feeling was very clear

 

[toby]

I’d say be very selective about your evidence; make it brief and convincing.

My wife and I recently went through an interview, and the VO mentioned that some people hand in applications several inches thick. He was implying that this is not welcome, and since it seems that a VO has very little time to spend on each application, submitting too much may well cause the VO to merely glance through the application – which increases the chances of an erroneous (negative for you) response. Or, if the VO feels he/she cannot go through the application thoroughly (too much stuff), then he/she might call an interview to get a personal impression – whereas a more concise application might have avoided an interview.

So, in your case you should gather evidence to show the length and character of your relationship, but not overwhelm with details and repetition. In hindsight, I feel I should not have submitted 200 pages of email transcripts: one from each month would probably have sufficed. And even there, I should have summarized the emails on one page. That would have allowed the VO to read the summary, then glance through the email transcripts to verify the summary.

There seems to be a general belief that more is more convincing; instead less is better for a beleaguered VO, as long as the “less” makes your point.

Same logic with photos. Sending 300 photos may be counter productive. Sending a small selection from each “stage” of your relationship – especially the wedding ceremony showing family attending (a detail that CIC tends to focus on) – should suffice.

Instead of voluminous transcripts of phone calls, a log of calls (showing that you talked frequently, and throughout the relationship) would do as well.

I could go on, but you see my point – such as it is.

 

[SssS]

I agree with the post above - I supplied only 12 photos and all the explanation was in the form and an attached 1 page - that's it. No interview no additional info required, done and landed. After reading posts here I got really scared of not giving enough proof because my logic was - if you give a lot, it might look also like it is well prepared to look genuine, if you know what I mean. But the big variable is the IO that handles your case

Good luck

 

[Dayanara]

My husband and I met online in early 2007 (he is from US-Chicago and I am Canadian-Toronto area). We met face to face Xmas of 2007 and then began visiting each other as much as we could until he moved to Buffalo to be as close as possible to me and we could see each other every weekend.

I made a word document that had 2-4 pictures per page with a date and explanation of where/what/who was in the pictures. We used as many photos as we could that had friends or family in them, but also included ones that had just the two of us. If we had included any ticket stubs for anything and also had a picture taken at that event we referenced that too. This package of photos was about 15 pages. One page was just filled with wedding photos and no explanations, both professional and candid from guests cameras.

I had a letter from my best friend detailing how she first met him and how she was involved in our relationship watching it grow and being a part of our wedding day.

We including 1 year of phone bills highlighting all our conversations. I also sent select e-mails/chats, approximately 1-2 per month for the span of a year. I sent some that we were just being silly and could tell we were a loving couple, sent some that were more risque and slightly sexual, and sent others we were discussing our future together.

All of our proof, minus the photos and some stubs, were all only within the past year, we did not go back further.

I am sure you will be fine. As you can see we were1

Good luck!

 

[kourts]

I too am having a hard time figuring out what I should send. =/ I have pictures,bus tickets,western unions,webcam log from msn,but I don't have convos from when we first met, I do however have messages on myspace showing we did know each other 4 years ago,We were 15 and 16 though so it's all pretty goofy =/ I have some chat logs, but I'm not sure what they want to see or read. any suggestions? and anything thing in convos I should leave out?

 

[toby]

I agree with the post above - I supplied only 12 photos and all the explanation was in the form and an attached 1 page - that's it. No interview no additional info required, done and landed. After reading posts here I got really scared of not giving enough proof because my logic was - if you give a lot, it might look also like it is well prepared to look genuine, if you know what I mean. But the big variable is the IO that handles your case

Good luck

Another big variable is the country you come from. May I ask what is yours? Your short timeline makes most of us envious.

 

[Moonlightprancer]

Thanks Everyone! I really appreciate everyone's comments. I think everyone is right if i sit down and write out a letter of our relationship and is started etc I think that will be good for the IO to see. my husband and I met online 1999 we were just finishing up high school. We met physically in 2005 then again in 2006 x 2 and again the following yr 2007. The distance was hard and careers/ work kept us apart. We dated other people but could never shake the feeling that we both were missing something. I ended up surprise visiting him this past summer after i had not seen him in 3 yrs. Everything fell back into place. He came up to Canada in Dec for another visit and then recently I just got back from the states and we had been married. I guess I am a little worried that some IO officer will wonder why we got married after not being together for 3 yrs. My family was not present ( just his ). My parents are sick and can not travel so they have asked their doctor to write a letter stating that the health issues prevented them from flying to the wedding. I hope this ok ... Anyone else done this before??? Also I am wondering how much do you have to make in a yr to be qualified to sponsor your spouse? i am a teacher on call part of the year and am not finding any info as to what the $$ amount is to sponsor your spouse. Any ideas or links on that ?? is it ok to send pictures and evidence after you send the PR package out? We are having a 2nd wedding here in Canada with my family this summer and we would have sent the sponsor package out already...c an we add to it ?

 

[SssS]

Another big variable is the country you come from. May I ask what is yours? Your short timeline makes most of us envious.

Slovak Republic and on top of that I applied from Quebec, so rest assured that I am bewildered as well, but pleasantly ;D

 

[fleo]

Your short timeline makes most of us envious.

There's actually been a number of inland applicants lately who received PR within weeks of AIP, in different offices, and no one can figure out why.

As for the OP's question, I think quality comes before quantity in this case. Ask yourself - what purpose does this piece of evidence serve? Could I prove the same thing more efficiently with something else? Do I need to prove the same thing over and over again with the same type of evidence? Try to put yourself in place of a complete stranger who has to decide whether your relationship is real or not, and see what looks the most compelling.

 

[missmini]

both toby and fleo have very good points but the big question is the embassy where u'll b applying; each one is different and they process different...my big purpose is for them to have less doubts; for example, i read another thread some time ago where the applicant sent just an example of phone bills (one every few months instead of all) and the officer pretended that they didn't really keep contact and they should have sent all...yes this might be an exception, but having the proof already, which one would u pick: sending it to b sure or not sending it and regret later?...some evidence could show the same thing all over but in case they don't believe one of them, they could have the other to confirm; another example: let's say they would think that the passport stamps r fake (not urs, from another passport, u name it) but if u would show some plane ticket stubs, hotel reservation/receipts maybe it will help

at the end it all depends of the office where u r applying (it's easier to have fake stuff in Asia or Africa than in US or Canada, sorry, i don't mean to offend anyone); in depends on ur situation, ur history and also how comfortable u r with what u send; u don't want after to feel bad, thinking too much abt it, have sleepless nights....everything u send or u don't, u have to b comfortable that u did ur best on ur side and u think it was enough

good luck!

 

[AllisonVSC]

I tend to focus my advice to conjugal partner applicants, because I applied successfully (I'm US, he's CAN) in that class in 2009 and sometimes they seek me out. But I think the advice applies well to all conjugal couples (married, common law and conjugal partners).

Read the OP 2 manual sections 5.25 and 5.26. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op02-eng.pdf

It spells out very clearly what they are looking for and even provides examples of the types of evidence that would support the claims of a conjugal relationship.

In brief, the following characteristics should be present to some degree in all conjugal relationships (I lumped some of the bullets together)
• mutual commitment to a shared life
• exclusive and intimate
• interdependent – physically, emotionally, financially, socially
• permanent – long-term, genuine and continuing relationship
• present themselves as and are regarded by others as a couple (or as a family if there are children)


Think of your application as a term paper (yep, I used to be a teacher). You need to provide a focused and reasoned argument that makes all the necessary points and is supported by evidence. Avoid wandering all over the map and using free form association. Make it easy for your visa officer to say... Ok, I am looking for this. CHECK. Now, I want to see that. CHECK, CHECK. And, is there evidence of this? CHECK, CHECK, CHECK.

I personally feel that enough is enough in regards to evidence (though I concede from reading the forum that it is dependent on the country of origin), that more is not better, and that way too much is a disadvantage. Focus on providing a breadth of evidence that addresses the bulleted items above, especially the interdependences for CL and CP applicants, over a depth of evidence in only one or two areas.

Read those sections of the manual I cited above. You will hopefully get a clearer idea of how your application should be assessed, the types of evidence they expect, and what categories or "bullets" your evidence supports.

That's my 15 cents (inflation has arrived).
Hope it's helpful. Allison