Photos - best way to put them into your application?

[dishy_max]

Hey guys - just a wee question on photos....

I've read some post about people getting the photos wrong and comments about not stapling, not gluing etc etc.

What is the best way to do the photos - have them loose with a bulldog clip? Glue them onto a page with a description on the bottom as well as on the back??

Our photos are really important as they are both of us with friends and family etc and we don't have things like lease and joint bills so we want to make sure these are done properly so that we don't have any probs.

Comments very much welcome as we're hoping to file Friday. (we were going to file tomorrow but would prefer to get everything off on the 14th than the 13th.....superstitious!!!)

Dish

 

[HoneyBird]

well i basically used word and copy and pasted the pictures i wanted with a short description on each and printed the pages. (do them in colour)

so less work than glueing and making the pages heavy. And my evidence read like a book. With a table of contents. Everything was done on word and just printed. For instance I took screen shots of my emails and pasted it on to word. It was quite a work of art. I was so proud of myself after

 

[dishy_max]

Ahhhh so it's ok to "scan" photos onto a word doc? I wasn't sure if that was allowed or if we had to do 5 x 7 photos with the description on the back.

So much easier if we don't have to use photos!!! Thx!!

 

[kelKel]

My consultant did the same as Honeybird. Basically she put 3 photos per page with description of where it was taken, who was in the shot and what we were doing. I look over it all time. Makes me teary.

 

[fleo]

+1 on the 'HoneyBird method', plus all additional pages of my application had a header saying "X, principal applicant and Y, sponsor" so I didn't have to add an explanation for every single on of them (for instance, there's a series of wedding photos I didn't tag - the first one gave the date, place, people and who took it, and I felt it would be silly to repeat that for every single one of them with addition of "... and now we walk" "... and walk" "... and exchange vows" "... and kiss" "... and walk again" - I mean, it's a wedding, and it's fairly obvious what's happening But I did make sure every page of photos can be linked to the application itself in case they get mixed up or whatever.)

 

[Cdagal]

Some of mine were pasted into Word documents, and others I printed directly from my facebook...Some of my wedding photos and photos of our first meeting, on facebook all my friends and family acknowledged them which I thought helped to strengthen our proof.

 

[Jurjen]

I used MS Word too. I kept the amount to a minimum, just enough to prove that we're not making up some relationship, but not too much to waste paper and the IO's time. Just a few pictures that we were in my country and a few pictures in Canada, to prove that we visited each other several times. Then 3 or 4 pictures of the wedding. I had one photo of my entire family from my father's side, in which we are both as well. I put all the names of the family members and where they are in my family tree. Wonderful proof that I introduced her to my family.

I printed them on regular paper. Quality of the pictures should not be important, content is. It's not a photographer's portfolio, it's just a proof of relationship!

 

[serenifly]

I Just got pictures printed out at london drugs and taped them to a piece of paper with dates and what we were doing lol pretty ghetto but I'm not crafty

 

[chelley]

i did the same as most others... digital pics organized in MS Word, 3-4 to a page, captions below.... grouped cronologically by "event"

good luck

 

[dishy_max]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before....I must have read somewhere that the names of people and the place had to be on the back of the photograph because I had it in my head that they HAD to be actual photos....not digial!

Thanks guys for your help, that makes everything sooooo much easier!

That's one thing to go on my boyfriends "to do" list as I'm not computer savvy at all and would have gone old school and got pictures printed

Here's hoping we can file on Friday. Yay!!!!

 

[chelley]

That's one thing to go on my boyfriends "to do" list as I'm not computer savvy at all and would have gone old school and got pictures printed

boyfriend? are you applying commonlaw? or congugal?... if you apply commonlaw without a lease/proof of cohabitation, joint bills and such (things you say you don't have) it's going to be a hard go... a little easier if it's congugal, but you have other obsticles to face... hopefully you've prepared your applicaiton/proof to properly support your category...

good luck...

 

[dishy_max]

Hey Chelley - yep we're applying common-law. We've got joint accounts as well as loads of photos and stat decs from friends and family as well as facebook and email chat logs etc and are hoping that'll be enough.

Fingers crossed!!

 

[canadianwoman]

If you're applying common law, don't refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend in the application.

You can send in loose photos if you want, but I agree with the above posters that printing them on regular paper 2 or 3 to a page with Word, and including a description of the occasion and who is in the photos is better.
If you send in loose photos and put the captions on the back, this is fine for the original application, but it is not good if the app is rejected and you appeal, because when the application is sent to the Immigration Appeal Board, only the fronts of the photos will be photocopied, which means the info on the back is lost.

 

[lama21]

I am copying and pasting the pictures on the Microsoft word (2 on each page). My question is what kind of information and description shall I add on the paper next to the pictures? thanks all !!

 

[canadianwoman]

I am copying and pasting the pictures on the Microsoft word (2 on each page). My question is what kind of information and description shall I add on the paper next to the pictures? thanks all !!

State the occasion, where the photo was taken, who is in the photo and their relationship to you, the date; some include who took the photo, which I only included when the photographer was one of us. Some indication of why you included the photo if it is not obvious is good too.
Some people use their names in the photo captions, others say 'the sponsor' and 'the applicant'; I referred to myself as 'I' or 'me', my husband as 'my husband' or by his name, and everyone else by name. Any way is OK, as long as the visa officer can figure out who people are.

For example: 1. This is a photo of the first time I met my husband's aunt (Cathy Smith) and uncle (John Smith). We are at their house in Onitsha, Delta State, Nigeria. The photo was taken on November 3, 2007, by my husband.
2. This is a photo taken outside city hall in Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria, just after our civil wedding ceremony on November 17, 2007. The people from left to right are: Joe Blow, my husband's brother; David Smith, my husband's cousin; my husband; me; Ian Blow, my husband's brother; and Cliff Ade, a family friend.