photos for evidence

[limanoid]

Silly question, perhaps, but how many photos do people usually submit with their application? I have about 25 reasonable ones of us in different places or on different days... Is that a good enough number?

 

[egyptlover2010]

The more the the better. I sent 250. Wedding photos, phots of you guys kissing or being somewhat intimate. Pic's with each other's family and friends is important so it does not look like a hidden marriage and that your friends and family are aware and support the marriage. Letter"s from friends and family 3 from each side I would highly recommend as well. Stating about your relationship/ marriage, how logn they've known you and your wife/husband, etc. I sent plenty of proof and my husband just got interview waved and got Visa. I think it has a lot to do with all the proof and pics I sent in. It took me 3 months to prepare our application for sponsorship and permanant residency. Good Luck to you and your partner My husband arrives in canada August 20th woo hoo

 

[Jewels]

250?

I've got about 15 photos to send in. Husband and I both loathe having our pictures taken. Hope that's enough.

 

[limanoid]

Jewels: Maybe for us two, we need to prove the relationship more through written documentation like receipts, letters, etc!
egyptlover: Thanks for your input -- unfortunately I cannot find 250 pictures of us!! Though I think your idea about letters from friends and family is good, that might help my case as I lack photos and documentation. I accidentally threw out some bus tickets that would have helped us and letters addressed to us.... yikes

 

[plumosa]

a low amount of photos is fine depending on the situation. Its a balance of the whole application, photos, emails, phonecalls, bank statements, etc If you are low on one, you just need to have more of another and a written explanation why.

 

[FHRocker]

We don't have a lot of photos either for the same reason - we're not fans of having our pictures taken. We have a decent chunk of Skype history that we're planning on sending but blacking out the text since a good deal is private. Before that though we used MSN and never kept history of it.

 

[bobshynoswife]

If you are low on photos, send even the ones you think are 'bad pictures'. Maybe you're not looking at the camera, or have a funny expression on your face. CIC is looking for genuineness in the photos, and they like to see candid pictures. If you only have 15-20 photos and they all look perfect, it could be thought that perhaps they were staged.

 

[destinationBC]

four

 

[AllisonVSC]

We sent only 10-12 but they covered 5 years, 3 countries, a fair number of hairstyles (mine, he shaves his head), no weddings (we're not married) and included family members from both sides. I wasn't even in some of them, but I took the pictures. From the posts in this thread so far I'd say a number anywhere between 4 and 250 is appropriate , but consider content, context, and other supporting documentation when deciding what and how many to include.
Good Luck with your application. Allison

 

[sbwv09]

I included quite a bit but we are 'picture' people. They were all dated over the span of several years and showed other family members, different settings, and differences in hair, weight, etc.

 

[bobshynoswife]

I included quite a bit but we are 'picture' people. They were all dated over the span of several years and showed other family members, different settings, and differences in hair, weight, etc.

I hear you on the differences in weight! LOL! The stress of being apart plus soothing the lonliness with food caused me to gain 40 pounds from the time I met him until we married. Each set of pictures from my 8 trips to visit him show me getting heavier and heavier.

When we were going through photos for submission back in March, he said 'Wow' about my weight gain. Not that he was disappointed, but his 'wow' was more about how he had never noticed it. Even more proof that he is the right man for me. Now of course, I've lost the weight and weigh about 10 pounds less than when I met him. I'm hoping for a 'wow' at the airport, but obviously for a different reason!

 

[canadianwoman]

The number of photos also depends on the visa office and your situation. A 'difficult' office will require more photos; an unusual situation will also require more proof.

 

[nyssa]

The number of photos also depends on the visa office and your situation. A 'difficult' office will require more photos; an unusual situation will also require more proof.

That's exactly it. Photos are analyzed in a few different ways... the first, before even getting into it, is how many photos are required for your specific application. For example, if you have a pretty straight-forward application or haven't been around each other much then you may only need 10-20 good photos. I don't know, I myself sent about 50-100 (didn't count). It doesn't matter how many you send but the quality of what you send. I could send them 20 pictures from the same event with different poses, but what does that prove?

1. Intimacy (don't send all photos of you kissing and DEFINITELY don't send pictures of TOO much intimiacy, but you do need to show that you are in love, not friends.)

2. Casual (candid photos, also - it's completely okay to take pictures of just each other, because that's natural.)

3. Outings (different dates, sceneries)

4. Family and friends (show yourselves together with family and friends from both sides, if possible)

5. Holidays/change of time (been together for 2 years? different hairstyles, weight, holidays, etc should be shown)

6. Wedding, Reception, Honeymoon

They're looking for variety. I cannot stress enough that quality over quantity plays the biggest role with this one. Just like your communication. If you have 1000 e-mails you don't send them all, but you send a screenshot. You're giving them a preview of your lives together, an overall presentation.

 

[Kess]

We were only able to send in about 25 photos. I'm not even in some of them but I noted who took the picture, where, when, and who was in each photo.

I had two photos from when we first met in 2005 (we didn't start dating until 2008) where we were both in the photo, then a photo I took of him on our first date, then the two of us snorkeling in Hawaii (that is the only photo of us together prior to the wedding.. horrible shot and dirt on the lens). Then some wedding photos (ceremony, family portraits, and reception). Then a couple pics from a trip together after the wedding.

I cant 'stand getting my photo taken (self-consicous/weight issues) and it was just something I never did. Now trying to go through this application process I'm worried that my camera-shyness will hurt me.

To compensate for the lack of photos, I included all our flight itineraries (one of us travelled to see the other on average every 2 to 3 months) as well as scans of the inside of greeting cards sent to each other, phone records showing a few calls per month, and 32 pages of Google Talk IM inbox screenshots showing daily contact since we started dating in 2008.

The application doesn't depend on photos alone. Showing multiple forms of contact and continuing contact should be beneficial.

 

[limanoid]

I have a lot of photos of either of us in the same place and same time but the other person took the photo. So we have a lot of these photos where only one person is in it. There is, for example, a photo of me in front of a statue and then another with him in front of the same statue... Would those work too?