Proof of Relationship - layout/organization

[eternalrock]

Hey everyone,

I'm at the point in the application where I'm sure everybody has a slight panic attack. I'm at the beginning stages of documenting the 'proof of relationship'. The good thing is that my wife and I have lots of documentation/phone calls/emails/facebook/photos to document our relationship. My main question is about the best way to format everything.

We are both graphic designers so my first instinct is to create a massive InDesign file and basically 'tell the story' of our relationship, from the very beginning. Take screenshots and scan everything in.. and layout everything (photos, screenshots, cards, etc) with typed copy in the margin to provide context. Emails, photos, flight info, cards.. everything together in chronological and documented order. From November 2011 (when we first got in touch) until September 2014 (got married). I suspect the final document would be roughly 150-200 pages long.

As somebody who essentially organizes information for a living (Graphic Design), it just makes sense to me to do this way. I did some research however, and it seems people generally organize things seperately (photos, communication, cards, etc). Is there any advantage to this that I'm missing?

Any thoughts, wisdom or insight would be most appreciated!

Thanks so much

Jason

 

[SuiGeneris]

This is what I did: http://s31.photobucket.com/user/candy_fire/media/11880507_483614238467859_690582536_n.jpg.html and http://s31.photobucket.com/user/candy_fire/media/11910736_483614231801193_1778219419_n.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

 

[gorbache]

I heard it doesn't matter because they take out all documentation from whatever folder/envelope and reorganize it themselves. This is probably done because they want to make the file in electronic format. So they take all documentation, make it all one bundle, and stick it in the auto feeder of a scanner. Once an electronic file is made, it can easily be transferred to whatever visa office is applicable and assigned to an officer.

 

[deweysmith]

Hey everyone,

I'm at the point in the application where I'm sure everybody has a slight panic attack. I'm at the beginning stages of documenting the 'proof of relationship'. The good thing is that my wife and I have lots of documentation/phone calls/emails/facebook/photos to document our relationship. My main question is about the best way to format everything.

We are both graphic designers so my first instinct is to create a massive InDesign file and basically 'tell the story' of our relationship, from the very beginning. Take screenshots and scan everything in.. and layout everything (photos, screenshots, cards, etc) with typed copy in the margin to provide context. Emails, photos, flight info, cards.. everything together in chronological and documented order. From November 2011 (when we first got in touch) until September 2014 (got married). I suspect the final document would be roughly 150-200 pages long.

As somebody who essentially organizes information for a living (Graphic Design), it just makes sense to me to do this way. I did some research however, and it seems people generally organize things seperately (photos, communication, cards, etc). Is there any advantage to this that I'm missing?

Any thoughts, wisdom or insight would be most appreciated!

Thanks so much

Jason

My honest advice would be to dump at least half of what you have. We sent 0 chat/message logs, 200 dated and briefly labeled 4x6 photos, and 6 Delta receipts, 4 of me flying to her, and 2 of her flying to me. Our relationship is short compared to yours, but I don't think you need as much as you think.

 

[mikeymyke]

Agreed, your spouse is American, there's no need to be so excessive with the relationship proofs.

 

[eternalrock]

Thanks, that is really good to know. I've been talking it over with my wife and I think we're just going to use a few categories.. "Photos / Conversation / Visits / Letters&Cards" and label everything well but forget about laying everything out nice and pretty. We got enough to do already.. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[mikeymyke]

Yes just keep it simple.

For me, because my wife is from Vietnam and has to go through a very difficult visa office with a long processing time, we decided to go excessively overboard with our application, which resulted in a very quick processing time for us. Americans have very little issues immigrating here under the spousal sponsorship.

 

[IrisSphere]

Thanks, that is really good to know. I've been talking it over with my wife and I think we're just going to use a few categories.. "Photos / Conversation / Visits / Letters&Cards" and label everything well but forget about laying everything out nice and pretty. We got enough to do already.. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

The other thing you can do, even if you reduce the amount, is to do the same idea but keep it simple in a PowerPoint or something. It doesnt have to be pretty, just make sense. I created a slide on each "stage" or meaningful moment of our relationship and did a collage of pictures on each one in a chronological order. Then included letters, emails, chat logs and flight tickets in between those pages where it made sense - it still tells a story of the progression but not as much effort. I also did a slide with a graphical timeline that described events and rough dates so right away the officer can get an idea of the relationship at a glance. For our 1.5 year relationship it was about 20-30 slides plus extra print outs that I mentioned. Our whole application was about 180 pages.

For what it's worth, we went to a woman whose job is to help with these application (free gov't service) and she strongly suggested not to use separate folders or too many cover sheets. Make it easy for the officer to go through everything. I also read here that they scan everything anyway so one big (organized) pile with possibly binder clips/paper clips/sticky flags to separate sections will be more than enough.

 

[Catherine27]

This is nice and helpful

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned-t92449.735.html

 

[Catherine27]

Look since the 1 page!!!

 

[IrisSphere]

This is nice and helpful

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/how-i-organized-our-applcation-and-a-summary-of-all-helpful-tips-i-have-learned-t92449.735.html

I would say yes, this post has really helpful tips but honestly it really depends for your specific application. Like someone said if your relationship is pretty straightforward with no red flags, quantity may be a bit overkill.

 

[eternalrock]

The other thing you can do, even if you reduce the amount, is to do the same idea but keep it simple in a PowerPoint or something. It doesnt have to be pretty, just make sense. I created a slide on each "stage" or meaningful moment of our relationship and did a collage of pictures on each one in a chronological order. Then included letters, emails, chat logs and flight tickets in between those pages where it made sense - it still tells a story of the progression but not as much effort. I also did a slide with a graphical timeline that described events and rough dates so right away the officer can get an idea of the relationship at a glance. For our 1.5 year relationship it was about 20-30 slides plus extra print outs that I mentioned. Our whole application was about 180 pages.

For what it's worth, we went to a woman whose job is to help with these application (free gov't service) and she strongly suggested not to use separate folders or too many cover sheets. Make it easy for the officer to go through everything. I also read here that they scan everything anyway so one big (organized) pile with possibly binder clips/paper clips/sticky flags to separate sections will be more than enough.

Thanks so much.. this is really helpful. I think we're going to do something similar, but keep it nice and simple