How I organized our applcation and a summary of all helpful tips I have learned

[Iay]

is it true that immigration doesn't like it stapled? coz I stapled most of our forms .

 

[Solesilence]

this is awesome.

but i just read on another thread that CIC said themselves not to even use paperclips,just leave all the papers loose. Any ideas?

should I just use paper clips? loose is too difficult to manage

 

[Rob_TO]

but i just read on another thread that CIC said themselves not to even use paperclips,just leave all the papers loose. Any ideas?

should I just use paper clips? loose is too difficult to manage

Here is directly from the USA country guide for application: Assemble all your documents as listed. Check each applicable item on the list and attach the list to your documents (a paper clip will do).

So i think its fine to use paperclips, as it states it on some CIC forms. Much easier to deal with than staples for the VO.

 

[pardesifr]

I have a question as I am preparing and about to send my application.

I have done things a little differently and in different order, I followed the order in main Checklist then for sponsored the country checklist.

Here is what I want the confirmation If I am doing it right.

Is it ok to have 3 layers of sub envelopes or I should put stuff in loose ? Here I detail to understand clearly (I followed the checklists order)

Envelope 1 : Sponsor Forms
Envelope 2 : Sponsored Forms
Envelope 3: Supporting documents
Sub envelope 1: Identity documents
Sub envelope 2: Proof of relationship
Sub Sub envelope 1 : Photos
Sub sub sub envelope 1 : wedding photos
Sub sub sub envelope 2 : Special ocasions photos
Sub sub sub envelope 3 : Other photos
Sub Sub envelope 2 : Greeting cards, phone bills, etc.
Sub sub envelope 3 : Police clearance, medical
Sub mini envelope : Immigration photos

Is this OK or there are too much envelopes ? Anyway I don't how else I can do specialy the photos are not printed bu developed and I have to put them lose cant glue them on papers

Also The immigration photos are on the last of checklist so I can not put them with any Form, so they are loose, should i clip them to Medical form ?

Thanks for your advises to make this more clear and better

 

[pardesifr]

You include your marriage certificate in the principal applicant's envelope.
The photos, you can put them in an envelope and label it Proof of Relationship A... that also includes, receipts of gifts, restaurants receipts, e-mails, cards, letters, bills with both your name on it etc.... in Proof of Relationship B... I put joint banks accounts, declaration letters from family or friends, rental contracts, insurance benefits and others... mine is so simple not too much papers, and my sponsor was approved...

Aren't we supposed to follow the order of the check list ?

 

[missmini]

hey everyone i used to b v active on this thread like one year ago and now that we have the visa and we got our package back on which i worked hard for maybe 8 months i can have a better perspective and maybe my post will help some of u

we sent 3 envelopes categories: one for sponsor, one for applicant and one for relationship proofs; all the envelopes we put them in a big box; the idea is for everything to b sent together otherwise it might b hard for them to match!! now when i look back i realize we sent a looot but because they were very well organized and labelled it was ok, it didn't delay anything
we had a very big TOC naming each and every document and proof - that one i included it exactly after the checklist, in the sponsor package
then on each envelope we put a big label saying what it contains - being photos, phone bills, home contract etc (like smaller TOCs for each section)
in our letters we tried to walk them through all our proofs; for example, if we said we made trips then we send them to envelope 5 for example; the envelopes we numbered them in order of importance considering our category (we applied common-law so the cohabitation was the most imp); even the photos were numbered and labeled;
at the end, after getting everything back, some envelopes were not opened at all, there is no new binder mark, the photos in the same order; some were opened and studied and some proofs (the letters from friends and family, our original home contracts) were kept with them; that makes me think that he found everything easy, could just have an overall look over everything and just look for more in detail over the things he found important; and once it was clear for him he stopped

that's why i advise to all that once u have everything ready do spend sometime figuring out how to label and organize them; ask someone from outside to look over it (if it's confusing for them and they r lost, then u still have some thinking to do); it's really worth it; it's true that every case is different and every embassy works in different way but u never know!!

we had a very steep hill to climb because of the cultural norms and traditions in our region; i'm sure they don't see many common-law applications sent here; but we did climb it, much faster than i was ever expecting (their average time is 19 months); maybe they considered other factors too, we don't know what they think when they take a file but if u do all ur homework on ur side u have nothing to worry and all will b ok at the end

good luck for all!!

PS: pelipeli thank u for this nice thread, i hope u have a very nice life together!!

 

[missmini]

I have a question as I am preparing and about to send my application.

I have done things a little differently and in different order, I followed the order in main Checklist then for sponsored the country checklist.

Here is what I want the confirmation If I am doing it right.

Is it ok to have 3 layers of sub envelopes or I should put stuff in loose ? Here I detail to understand clearly (I followed the checklists order)

Envelope 1 : Sponsor Forms
Envelope 2 : Sponsored Forms
Envelope 3: Supporting documents
Sub envelope 1: Identity documents
Sub envelope 2: Proof of relationship
Sub Sub envelope 1 : Photos
Sub sub sub envelope 1 : wedding photos
Sub sub sub envelope 2 : Special ocasions photos
Sub sub sub envelope 3 : Other photos
Sub Sub envelope 2 : Greeting cards, phone bills, etc.
Sub sub envelope 3 : Police clearance, medical
Sub mini envelope : Immigration photos

Is this OK or there are too much envelopes ? Anyway I don't how else I can do specialy the photos are not printed bu developed and I have to put them lose cant glue them on papers

Also The immigration photos are on the last of checklist so I can not put them with any Form, so they are loose, should i clip them to Medical form ?

Thanks for your advises to make this more clear and better

as long as u label each envelope it's ok the photos just leave them in their small envelope inside the applicant's envelope; on the envelope write the applicant's name and dob; us for relationship we used big brown envelopes or smaller brown but the sponsor and applicant packages r in transparent folders the ones u can close like a purse
we had big binders (black metal ones) and smaller binders - we didn't staple anything; only the notarized translations were stapled - that's how the notary gave it so we left it like that

 

[pardesifr]

So Can I go out of Checklist order for Police clearance, Medical proof and immigration photos and put them with Applicant forms envelope ? As these are important document don't want to get them lost inside the mess off Supporting documents lolzzz

 

[missmini]

So Can I go out of Checklist order for Police clearance, Medical proof and immigration photos and put them with Applicant forms envelope ? As these are important document don't want to get them lost inside the mess off Supporting documents lolzzz

i think it's better if the applicant forms and documents are all together; first the bar codes than the checklist then everything else in the order of the checklist; all the documents u said are for the applicant anyway not related to the sponsor or the relationship

 

[pardesifr]

i think it's better if the applicant forms and documents are all together; first the bar codes than the checklist then everything else in the order of the checklist; all the documents u said are for the applicant anyway not related to the sponsor or the relationship

It will be a perfect world if we could put all together in 1 envelope but unfortunately they ask so many documents and proof for relationship that it is impossible to do so. On my country specific checklist the thre documents : Police clearance, Medical proof and immigration photos are at the end of the checklist so if I put them with other supporting documents (there are already 3 envelope of that) It will get hidden it while these 3 are upmost important I don't want to them to search for it or think that they are not provided and ask me again to send them. (as these are the one they often ask for, re medical, police clearance, recent photos )

I hope you understand what I want to say

 

[missmini]

It will be a perfect world if we could put all together in 1 envelope but unfortunately they ask so many documents and proof for relationship that it is impossible to do so. On my country specific checklist the thre documents : Police clearance, Medical proof and immigration photos are at the end of the checklist so if I put them with other supporting documents (there are already 3 envelope of that) It will get hidden it while these 3 are upmost important I don't want to them to search for it or think that they are not provided and ask me again to send them. (as these are the one they often ask for, re medical, police clearance, recent photos )

I hope you understand what I want to say

i think they know better and if they ask on that order they have a reason and u should try to make their life easy

 

[pardesifr]

I think I will just put them in a separate envelope but keep same order.

This is so confusing, they should indicate in guide in what order they want things.

 

[truesmile]

Goodness me NO. Then they would be sending applications back that have even "one" page out of place. You are "OVER-thinking" this. 11 envelopes are not needed.

 

[canadiangirl78]

is it true that immigration doesn't like it stapled? coz I stapled most of our forms .

I stapled EVERYTHING. It does not matter. We have been in Canada for over 6 months. =)

Also - everything was in one large pile in exact order of the checklist. Don't over complicate things! And don't leave everything loose - that would be a nightmare to figure out. Paperclip or staple.

 

[pardesifr]

Goodness me NO. Then they would be sending applications back that have even "one" page out of place. You are "OVER-thinking" this. 11 envelopes are not needed.

I have eliminated a lot of envelopes, now only 4 envelopes

1- Sponsor Forms
2- Sponsored Forms
3- Supported documents
3a- Photos

All in order as listed in checklist except for photos as there are to many and I have to put them in separate envelope.

All these in big bubble envelope and that envelop in Canada Post Large Box. Is this ok ? Or I should put all 4 envelopes directly in the box ?


Paper clipped the checklist on Sponsor Form and Sponsored Form.

Barcode is the first page inside each envelope. Should I put it outside and paper clip or I can leave it inside on top ?