Photos and relationship testimonial

[trekkie]

I was hoping someone had some advice on the relationship testimonial part of the outland application. I have put together pictures of us and I have a copy of my Facebook time line and I was hoping someone would offer some tips or advice on what they did. My partner and I have only been married 6 months and I want to put together the best testimonial I can to reduce delays. Should I caption the pictures on the front? I was thinking of arranging a sort of packet?
I searched through earlier posts and tried the search box but came up short. Any help would be much appreciated.
C

 

[mikeymyke]

I'm not married yet, will get married in 3 months, but I'm already starting to compile all my communication/relationship evidence.

Here's what I did:

-Used a program to convert all text messages into printable format, copy/pasted into word, took sample screenshots of txt messages from phone to prove they're real
-Took screenshot of me webcam chatting with my fiance, the screenshot shows both our faces, the time/date and duration of the chat
-Saved all Yahoo/viber messages, copy/pasted onto MS Word
-Scanned copies of all envelopes/letters sent to each person
-Took pictures of timeline Facebook showing our interactions with each other, as well as our friends/family commenting on our posts, very critical we show when we first "In a relationship", and all her friends/family commented about that, as well when we first met together in Vietnam, showing their comments, and finally when we got engaged, showing their comments. I feel the comments is important, as it shows her family and friends are aware of our relationship and support it.
-Put 2 photos per sheet of paper, with comments written below them, describing time/date/event/location/who took picture, we plan to have 200+ pics
-Showed receipts of gifts I bought for her, made a cute scrapbook detailing our time together during our Vietnam trip
-Kept receipts of all hotel stays and flight/bus tickets during our travels
-Will keep receipts of all wedding preparations, honeymoon, etc (when it happens in Dec 2013)

 

[CdnandTrini]

I'm not married yet, will get married in 3 months, but I'm already starting to compile all my communication/relationship evidence.

Here's what I did:

-Used a program to convert all text messages into printable format, copy/pasted into word, took sample screenshots of txt messages from phone to prove they're real
-Took screenshot of me webcam chatting with my fiance, the screenshot shows both our faces, the time/date and duration of the chat
-Saved all Yahoo/viber messages, copy/pasted onto MS Word
-Scanned copies of all envelopes/letters sent to each person
-Took pictures of timeline Facebook showing our interactions with each other, as well as our friends/family commenting on our posts, very critical we show when we first "In a relationship", and all her friends/family commented about that, as well when we first met together in Vietnam, showing their comments, and finally when we got engaged, showing their comments. I feel the comments is important, as it shows her family and friends are aware of our relationship and support it.
-Put 2 photos per sheet of paper, with comments written below them, describing time/date/event/location/who took picture, we plan to have 200+ pics
-Showed receipts of gifts I bought for her, made a cute scrapbook detailing our time together during our Vietnam trip
-Kept receipts of all hotel stays and flight/bus tickets during our travels
-Will keep receipts of all wedding preparations, honeymoon, etc (when it happens in Dec 2013)

+1 for a great answer mikeymyke !

 

[mikeymyke]

+1 for a great answer mikeymyke !

It's better to have a strong than a weak application

 

[truesmile]

Welcome to the forum!

It all depends. How do you feel about your case/application in the context of a genuine marriage? Our application went through the VO of a country that is NOT visa-exempt . . . BUT we included NONE of that stuff. Our application consisted of about 60 photos, mostly pre-nuptial outings, sight-seeing AND of course the wedding/reception itself. Our story? All fit into the box on the form, three sentences in TOTAL. We experienced no delays, in fact we had visa and COPR in hand 8 months later.

For sure! Better to have NO regrets.

 

[QuebecOkie]

I really didn't include a lot. I typed up a document that totaled four pages, including the 8 colour photos in it. I wrote a sentence or two or a paragraph about each photo. "Our first vacation together was in Mexico at the Secrets Capri resort in the Riviera Maya in November 2010. This is the two of us ready to go parasailing on an excursion into Cancun. (Itinerary attached.)" Did that for each of the 8 photos, and I attached three itineraries (two showing us traveling together, and one from when I went to visit him where he was deployed at the time). One photo was of our (very small, courthouse) wedding, and beneath it I explained that we didn't care to have a big wedding, that he had just returned from a deployment and we had to turn around in a month and go looking for a house to buy in Canada, and I explained why no family was present. Then at the end, I typed:

"In the instructions on form IMM 5285, it states that I should share any additional details that prove that my relationship with Quinton is genuine and continuing. I think my current situation illustrates the depth of my love for and commitment to my husband. I'm an American living in the Saguenay. I left my home and all of my family and friends for a strange life as a military spouse in a land where I now have to struggle to learn French. This is a beautiful region, but daily life is often a challenge as I take French courses and work to adjust to a very different culture and language. If I was not fully dedicated to my husband, I would not have attempted to make a new life in a land so different from my own. When he got posted to CFB Bagotville, I only had two choices. Follow him, learn French, and learn to love the new land where I live, or let the love of my life walk away from me. So really, I had no choice at all."

We didn't include any chat logs or phone bills or anything, though we communicated a lot online while we were at work, and while he was deployed. For many months after finding this forum, I stressed about not having enough "proof," but we have received DM, so it was enough for us.

 

[Catou]

I stressed a lot about relationship proof too and in the end I discarded about 2/3rds of what I had put aside to include. The thing is, every relationship is different. I went with quality over quantity and hope that this is enough.

Photos are part of our major proof because they show a timeline going back over ten years. I put the photos in a Microsoft Publisher document, 3-4 to a page, and captioned each one with the names of the people in the photo, the date and place where it was taken, and who took the photo. Some photos are me, taken by him, and him taken by me in the same place. I also added scans of the stamps in our passports alongside a couple of the photos where we were on overseas trips.

Whether this was enough for us or not, I don't know because we are still waiting.

 

[mikeymyke]

It shouldn't be a problem for you because your spouse is from Australia. Anyone from tough non visa exempt offices like Singapore, Pakistan, Ghana, should be sure to have a strong application. It would suck for someone to have an interview ON TOP of having a long general processing time.

 

[Catou]

It shouldn't be a problem for you because your spouse is from Australia. Anyone from tough non visa exempt offices like Singapore, Pakistan, Ghana, should be sure to have a strong application. It would suck for someone to have an interview ON TOP of having a long general processing time.

I'm pretty sure ours is a strong application but it's not a big one. Essentially we loaded up the relationship proof for the first two years of our relationship, then added supplementary evidence for each year thereafter to show an ongoing, committed relationship. Not a lot, but hopefully enough. I was worried about overloading the VO with too much reading! However, I think the key thing here is that every relationship is different and requires different levels of hard evidence to prove its genuine and lasting.

An interview waiver is not a sure thing for us. I'm a New Zealander married to a Canadian. I understand Australians get their approvals through much faster than New Zealanders (we are both visa exempt and processed through the same office) and it seems we are often required to submit to interviews. Now that the processing in Sydney is stretching out to 11 months its going to be a long, stressful wait.

 

[agarand8]

I'm sending my application in soon and for our proof I have....

30 ish pictures (scaled down from 200 after advice from people in the forum, after a few pics of the wedding they're probably like...ok we believe you that you had a wedding) On the back of each picture is just a quick one liner of where we are or what we are doing.
I have 16 pages of Skype Call History spanning the 2 years that we spent long distance.
I have the majority of western union receipts from my financial support.
At the wedding I made a beautiful speech (I'm allowed to say it was beautiful cause it made my mom and husband cry. lol) So I typed it up and put that in there.
I visited once while we were long distance so I have flight itinerary, passport stamps, pictures.
He was denied a visitors visa while we were long distance so we are including the letter they sent us denying it (this is reason for him not visiting me)
Original receipts from the honeymoon, passport stamps, pictures
Currently we live together and we had the landlord write a little letter to that effect.

I think that's it. I feel like if an arranged marriage is a genuine marriage then we should have no problem. Hopefully no interview because my husband gets super bad anxiety, but we will just take things as they come at us one at a time.

 

[Catou]

...we will just take things as they come at us one at a time.

That's a good philosophy

 

[gongdi]

We included ten pictures: a couple wedding photos with family members, one of us posing with our baby, one of us in Shanghai, and some of is sitting around our house looking comfortable. Try to use natural photos and not posed ones for the purpose of the application. As for the relationship testimonial, I wrote a one page long description of how, where and when we met, some of the places we've visited together, how the relationship evolved to marriage and described in words the devotion to my wife and new family. Some parts probably sounded corny but also very sincere. I also, of course, outlined our plan for living in Canada and how we plan to get by upon our first few months of arrival(savings, help from family...etc).

My ATIP notes claim we looked "comfortable and genuine, interview not recommended". So yeah, we didn't need to print our 5000 pages of texts and e-mails, just 10 photos and 2 separate relationship testimonials (from each of us). Each to his own but just saying we didn't need to do that to get a nod. Since that has deemed us as 'genuine', we now have to wait for the security check results and six months later (if we're lucky :-[) we should be good to go. :-*

 

[ammead]

I was incredibly stressed out about this part of the application, mainly because my husband and I met online. We sent in about 50 articles (greeting cards that were mailed to each other which included ones his family sent to me and mine to him, emails, Facebook messages and comments, AIM chats, photos in which we wrote a few sentences on each about what we were doing and when it was taken, airline tickets). We figured we couldn't have 'too' much proof and it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

[agarand8]

and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Definately.

I just realized that our 13 year age difference is probably going to be an issue so I decided to write one of those "relationship testimonials" that you all keep talking about and directly address that within it.

Went over some possible interview questions with my husband and it made me super nervous. Birthdays, parents names, how we met, etc all went fine. I asked him a couple of tougher ones like "why did you decide to marry someone 13 years younger than you" and after that the question answer was over cause he got mad and said "those are $!@&*%$ stupid questions" and declared practice time over. Jesus please don't let us get called for an interview. I would probably have a panic attack just reading the e-mail requesting it.

 

[CdnandTrini]

Definately.

I just realized that our 13 year age difference is probably going to be an issue so I decided to write one of those "relationship testimonials" that you all keep talking about and directly address that within it.

Went over some possible interview questions with my husband and it made me super nervous. Birthdays, parents names, how we met, etc all went fine. I asked him a couple of tougher ones like "why did you decide to marry someone 13 years younger than you" and after that the question answer was over cause he got mad and said "those are $! @ &*%$ stupid questions" and declared practice time over. Jesus please don't let us get called for an interview. I would probably have a panic attack just reading the e-mail requesting it.

Lol.....sounds like me and my hubby when we "practice" !!! Praying for no interviews please!!