How We Compiled Our Spousal Sponsorship Application - 2018

[ruanp28]

Hi all, so we finally sent in our application (outland from South Africa) this morning. I thought I might share how we compiled our application, since so many rules have changed over the years and we could not find any new organizing/compiling examples... I am going to try to add photos (hopefuly they upload) and am also outlinging our headings etc. for you.

Some background regarding our application:

(i) We are a common-law couple living together since 2012 and are both outside of Canada
(ii) We do not have any children
(iii) We are not moving to Quebec, so our checklist did not include any Quebec requirements

After the application was compiled, it weighed around 1.7 kilograms. I bubble wrapped the whole application and put a heading on top of the bubble wrap that simply reads "Application for Permanent Residency" with the sponsor's name and the applicant's name.

I had binder clips that held together 3 parts of the application:

The first part I clipped together was number 1-5 below (basically all the checklists, barcodes, payment and IMM forms).

The second part I clipped together was all the supporting documents for the sponsor, including passport, proof of intent to move to Canada (over 100 pages of proof) and source of income proof (basically lots of evidence that we are employable and have money to get onto our feet, degrees, resumes, employment opportunities, savings etc.)

The third part I clipped together was all the supporting documents for the applicant. This includes 2 PR photos that I attached at the top in a small envelope for the officer to see. In this part I also had 100 pages of our relationship proof (since we are a common-law couple, I had to include a ton of bills indicating more than one year of the same address). At the back, I placed 20 photos into an A4 envelope, each photo had details on the back that we printed out neatly and applied to the back of each photo with "DC Fix".

Throughout the supporting documents, we also had headers for each page in case a page got lost some how. The header included both the sponsor and applicant names and birth dates, as well as the type of supporting document (i.e Supporting document for Sponsor: 2. Proof that Sponsor will live in Canada)

Our application's order was exactly as follows:

1. Checklist

2. Barcodes (1344 one page, 0008 two pages)

* I also added a one page cover letter after the bar codes, explaining what class we are applying under, why we believe that we are eligible and a short explanation of evidence that we provided. Its not necessary, but meh.

3. Heading: Sponsor Forms
3.1 IMM 1344
3.2 Application Fees Receipt

4. Heading: Principal Applicant Forms
4.1 IMM 0008
4.2 IMM 5406 (we only filled out one)
4.3 IMM 5669 (added an additional sheet of international travel with a photo of my passport stamps)

5. Heading: Sponsor and Principal Applicant Forms
5.1 IMM 5532
(Additional sheets to provide our relationship time-line which is roughly 3 pages) - Answer to Question 11 Section C

6. Heading: Sponsor Supporting Documents
6.1 Sponsor Canadian Passport copy
6.2 Detailed plan of proof that Sponsor will live in Canada when applicant is approved (roughly 120 pages of proof and a "strategy plan" of everything we have done in terms of planning to move)
6.3 Documentation showing that I can support the applicant once in Canada

7. Heading: Principal Applicant Supporting Documents
7.1 Copies of most recent Passport (2018) and birth certificate
7.2 Statutory declaration of common-law relationship (although not required since we have no co-signer)
7.3 Original police clearance certificate of applicant (received 31 July 2018)
7.4 2 x photos of principal applicant (details written on back of the photos)
7.5 Proof of our relationship (roughly 100 pages where I include all documents relating to our relationship including lease agreement, bank accounts, envelope with 20 photos, relationship support letters, 2 x statutory declarations from family members and so forth)

So that was it. After we compiled the whole thing and went over our checklist and signature parts a few times, I wrapped it and sent it away. Some details I thought I'd include, as we struggled over the past two years to get solid info.

Details of supporting documents and photos to follow

 

[ruanp28]

Supporting documents for Sponsor (detailed explanation):


Proof that sponsor will move to Canada:


For those of you who need to provide proof that the sponsor is moving back to Canada once the applicant receives permanent residency, here is an example of some of the things we included to show proof:


> Communication with each other and friends regarding our plans of moving


> Severing ties to current country (this includes getting assets valued and planning to sell assets - only once approval is granted, arranging for shipment of items we are not selling, an asset list of what we will sell and ship and donate, tax clearance arrangements, letter from sponsor's employer acknowledging sponsor will resign upon applicant's approval - this is a tough one to do, but we played open cards with our employers)


> Proof of job and house searches - since we are not in Canada yet, we did not rent an apartment or find jobs. But what we did was research where we'd like to live and where we'd like to work. I put in screenshots and e-mails between the sponsor and realtors as well as employment agencies. E-mails showing job applications even if not approved, and also screenshots of housing research on Kijiji over the past three months. Anything I could find. We also have a friend in Oakville who wrote us a letter stating that she knows about our plans and will assist us when we arrive to get jobs and housing etc.


> Research regarding living costs and financial preperation - in this section we put in our budget that we intend to stick to each month, with average rental prices, public transport info we researched, food prices, utilities etc. We made it clear that we know what to expect in terms of cost of living in the area where we intend on living. We even put in average salries that we expect to earn, and how we will be able to stay within our budget. We also showed our current savings, and showed that we could live approx. 10 months off of our future savings once we move. (i.e budget for two people = 3500 CAD per month, savings = 35 000 CAD so we intend to be okay for roughly 10 months).


> Transportation and insurance - we also put in what we will do in terms of transport, that we will apply for our Full G and bring aling our driving experience letters etc. In terms of health care, we also explained that we know about the waiting period and we put in e-mails of discussions with Blue Cross for private health care for the first few months. It just shows that we are prepared.


A few other things we added were discussions with newcomer organizations, plans to restore our credit history, quotes for plane tickets and so forth. Rather too much than too little I say.


Employment and Source of Income:


Since we are outside of Canada, there were no option C or notice of assessments for the sponsor. what we did in stead was to give lots of evidence of both the sponsor and applicant's "employability", education, current reference letters, resumes, diplomas and also tax certificates from our current country. In this section we also added our savings and a letter from my father (notarized) where he said that he would provide financial support until we get onto our feet. So in this section we basically explained that we CAN get jobs in the area where we are going, we have applied, and we are not going to rely on social assistance of any sorts.


Supporting documents for Sponsored Person (detailed explanation):


Proof of relationship to Sponsor:


> Proof of cohabitation - since we are a common-law couple, we had to prove 12 months continuous living. For us this was easy as we have tons of bills being sent to us each month via e-mail, so we printed out the latest 12 (July 2017 - July/August 2018) as this was when we were compiling the app. We also included some random bills and pay stubs from 2015 - 2018 just to show that we have been living together for a few years. We also added a lease agreement from March 2014 to date.


> Vehicle insurance - I added proof that my partner is listed on my insurance as a driver for a vehicle on my name, and that this vehicle is parked at the same address as the lease etc.


> Payments between us and shared expenses - I added printouts from my bank to show that we transfer money to one another on a regular basis, as we share most of our expenses each month.


> Joint savings account - I added a letter from my bank showing that we both own a shared savings account that has roughly 10 000 CAD in at the moment.


>Other proof: The rest of the proof of our relationship consisted of two statutory declarations from family members confirming our relationship, six personal letters from friends/family members that spoke about our relationship and that we have told them about our plans of moving to Canada (shows some extra intent for the sponsor to move), some chats between us and Facebook screenshots of our engagement and anniversaries, chats about holiday getaway plans etc. We know that chats are only for conjugal relationships, but we put in the max 10 pages anyway, just in case.


>Photographs: We put in 20 photographs from 2012 to 2018, some on special occasions with friends and family etc. Each photo has details at the back starting with the name of the applicant, date of photo, who is in the photo from left to right, occasion of photo (i.e wedding, birthday etc.)


So yeah, that's about it. I truly hope that I can pay it forward and that this might help another couple in the future. I believe this can be customized for married couples etc. only difference is we had to include additional proof of living together and statutory declarations, whereas married couples need to provide wedding details and a marriage certificate. If anyone wants any additional info, please ask!

If possible, you can see the tabs to get an idea of what we provided and where. All blue tabs are for the sponsor and sponsor's supporting documents. The green tabs are for the principal applicant.

The whole app weighed roughly 1.7 kg.

Application's three different parts (Part A has sponsor forms on top, then PA forms, then the one form for sponsor and PA) The paper in the top right corner is simply a cover page we put in the box at the courier, just to show what they can expect inside the bubble wrap.

The final application before I put everything on top of one another. From left to right = bottom of application to top.

 

[wasiqjaved]

Brilliant work @ruanp28 ... Very well organized and well-presented application. Hope this will help & motivate others as well

 

[singleman]

Very nice job. It would take over a month for me to make all those. )

 

[Mariebelmont]

That's so organised ! Wonder how long it took to put it all together ! Goodluck on your application

 

[ruanp28]

Brilliant work @ruanp28 ... Very well organized and well-presented application. Hope this will help & motivate others as well

Thanks, hope I can pay it forward somehow!

 

[ruanp28]

That's so organised ! Wonder how long it took to put it all together ! Goodluck on your application

Hi, I have written a few essays and do a lot of projects so for me it was not difficult to organize it. We have been spending roughly two years on gathering evidence etc, but only because we have been saving on the sidelines. Sadly our currency's value dropped so much due to illiterate people running our country, our savings basically are worth 80% of what they would have been. We are now trying to move our funds to offshore accounts until we move to Canada. All in all, the actual printing and compiling took about two weeks. We just made a bunch of folders and created table of contents to guide ourselves

 

[glen1990]

this is really great. I'm having lots of anxiety going through all the forms. Can I ask for IMM5532. question 11 did you start in the box and attach a separate sheet or did you go straight to the separate sheet?

 

[ruanp28]

this is really great. I'm having lots of anxiety going through all the forms. Can I ask for IMM5532. question 11 did you start in the box and attach a separate sheet or did you go straight to the separate sheet?

Hi, I just wrote in the box that we attached additional sheets and where they can be found.

 

[chocococo]

Beautiful work, OP! Any news?

We've applied inland a few months ago. Like you, I super-organized everything--I didn't want to risk the agent being confused or having a hard time finding documents.

 

[ruanp28]

Beautiful work, OP! Any news?

We've applied inland a few months ago. Like you, I super-organized everything--I didn't want to risk the agent being confused or having a hard time finding documents.

Thanks! Unfortunately, no news. Our app was received 10 September and we have not received an AOR or anything. Kind of sad but I guess we have no control over it. Probably one of the perks when they see you are from a third-world country lol.

 

[chocococo]

Thanks! Unfortunately, no news. Our app was received 10 September and we have not received an AOR or anything. Kind of sad but I guess we have no control over it. Probably one of the perks when they see you are from a third-world country lol.

I'm so sorry for you guys.

Have you tried communicating with your visa office to see if they have any news? Or on CIC's website, you can fill up a form to ask about your application. They have 10 days to respond and usually take less then that.

Also, have you tried linking to MyCIC? Some people were able to do so even before getting their AOR (it seems like not everyone receives an AOR). You can find how on the forum.

 

[ruanp28]

I'm so sorry for you guys.

Have you tried communicating with your visa office to see if they have any news? Or on CIC's website, you can fill up a form to ask about your application. They have 10 days to respond and usually take less then that.

Also, have you tried linking to MyCIC? Some people were able to do so even before getting their AOR (it seems like not everyone receives an AOR). You can find how on the forum.

Thanks for the tips. I have tried linking GCKey with several different tries, trying every other day or so but to no avail. I have contacted CIC and they gave me a temporary application number starting with FX of something in those lines, but that was all. They could not provide me with any other information. It is really unfortunate, since we put in so much effort with our application and it feels as if nobody really cares about us or the detrimental quality of life in our current country. But we will keep our heads high!

 

[ritvik123]

That is how IRCC works..lol..nways all the very best!!!

 

[ruanp28]

AOR received today!