Proving a genuine relationship! What works best?

[thegameplayingcouple]

I'm sponsoring my Chinese wife from within China to return to Canada, I have all I need to prove we'll be returning to Canada to live. However my proof of continued relationship may be a little bit harder...

So here is what we do have...

-Plenty of pictures of us together.
-Proof that my parents and brother paid and made a trip to China for our wedding and our trip together to Beijing. (We live in North East China)
-Wedding photos.
-2 videos on youtube, one of my proposal to my wife and one of the wedding.
-Facebook timeline showing we are in a relationship and eventually married.
-Letters from my employer validating our relationship. (it's where we met)
-Letters from family and friends validating our relationship as true.
-Chinese Marriage documents. translated and notarized already, married 05-21-2012
-I spent some time in the hospital recently, have forms that my wife signed on my behalf. (not translated)


What we don't have...

-Any sort of accounts with our names on it together. Banks here won't do it. The employer I work for owns the apartment we live in, so no go in that area.
-Don't have any accumulation of emails or IM chat. we corresponded solely by phone, text msgs and when we saw each other at work. Then when we started living together, even less by phone or texts.


What I'd like to know is, what proof is best and what of the proof that I do have will help and what will not help? I'm wondering if links to the youtube videos will help, or screenshots of my youtube account and vids with their titles? What of Facebook, are they likely to look into that, or is it best to take screens of that too? How can I make the most of what I've got?

Thanks in advance.

 

[itslaeq]

I'm sponsoring my Chinese wife from within China to return to Canada, I have all I need to prove we'll be returning to Canada to live. However my proof of continued relationship may be a little bit harder...

So here is what we do have...

-Plenty of pictures of us together.
-Proof that my parents and brother paid and made a trip to China for our wedding and our trip together to Beijing. (We live in North East China)
-Wedding photos.
-2 videos on youtube, one of my proposal to my wife and one of the wedding.
-Facebook timeline showing we are in a relationship and eventually married.
-Letters from my employer validating our relationship. (it's where we met)
-Letters from family and friends validating our relationship as true.
-Chinese Marriage documents. translated and notarized already, married 05-21-2012
-I spent some time in the hospital recently, have forms that my wife signed on my behalf. (not translated)


What we don't have...

-Any sort of accounts with our names on it together. Banks here won't do it. The employer I work for owns the apartment we live in, so no go in that area.
-Don't have any accumulation of emails or IM chat. we corresponded solely by phone, text msgs and when we saw each other at work. Then when we started living together, even less by phone or texts.


What I'd like to know is, what proof is best and what of the proof that I do have will help and what will not help? I'm wondering if links to the youtube videos will help, or screenshots of my youtube account and vids with their titles? What of Facebook, are they likely to look into that, or is it best to take screens of that too? How can I make the most of what I've got?

Thanks in advance.

I guess all you have might be enough to prove your relationship. However, my advice to you would be to consult an immigration lawyer and get your application filed through the lawyer. The reason for this is, if there is any complication, for you to solve or prove that individually is time consuming and will cause delay in the application timeline. You may be paying an extra $2000 to the lawyer but you will have peace of mind.

 

[wowsers]

I definitely would not consult an immigration lawyer. Your case is straightforward. Do the application yourself and avoid the unnecessary expenditure. You can get free advice from knowledgable members of this forum if you encounter any problems either with the forms or with anything else. You already have the basic facts necessary for a sound application for your wife. The absence of joint bank accounts a joint tenancy and emails etc will not be fatal to your application against the background of your explanations (which you will need to include in your application) but if you can produce letters/bills etc addressed to you both at your address that would be useful. CIC will not look at videos but stills taken from videos and youtube would be relevant and helpful. Your wife's signature on the hospital forms will be helpful also but you will need to have the forms translated.

 

[gango girl]

if you want you can get screen shots of FB pictures of you too, comments on each other, comments from your family and friends for yours pictures, posts, wishes to each other, wishes for your wedded life from your family and friends etc. and also your wife's relatives as your mutual friends, your relatives as your wife's mutual friends on fb ect. get all of them screen shots. you have good evidences and i also not suggest an immigration lawyer. if you can get call logs from the phone company that is a very good evidence to prove that both of you had a good relationship with each other.
follow this if you like
follow this
1. Pictures - from the day you two met each other (if you have - not 50 or 100, as much as you can)
2. communication proofs - Skype detail sheets with each other
- Skype screen shots when you two are talking with each other & you too are talking with family member's of each other's
- telephone detail sheets
- emails
3. fb posts to each other, comments to each other, others comments about you two seems that you two are husband & wife, both of your family members as mutual friends
4. greeting cards
5. letters from each other
6. if you are the wife, the proofs to show that you are using your husband's last name from the day you married (the letters came over mail on your name with your husbands last name, receipts on your name with your husband's name, invitation's from others on your name & any kind of document on your name with your husband's last name ect..... )
7. receipts of you & your spouse bought gifts to each other
8. supporting letters from friends & family
9. travel itinerary to your spouse's country (if you have traveled to see each other) & copies of the visas on the passport each times
10. document proofs for the ability to work anywhere (to show that you can work & earn when the applicant comes to canada & the proofs of work experiences - certificates)
11. spouses working ability & proof of earning (Option C print out)
12. certify all the copies of your original documents by a lawyer \notary public (its mentioned on your application guide)
-
good luck

 

[wowsers]

Gango Girl, You are missing the point and sowing confusion. They met at work, are married since May 2012 and live together! Much of the detail in your advice is fanciful.

 

[scylla]

Gango Girl, You are missing the point and sowing confusion. They met at work, are married since May 2012 and live together! Much of the detail in your advice is fanciful.

Agreed. Gango girl - your advice is not relevant for this situation.

 

[gango girl]

Gango Girl, You are missing the point and sowing confusion. They met at work, are married since May 2012 and live together! Much of the detail in your advice is fanciful.

dear scylla and wowsers i gave a list which anybody can follow and thats why i mentioned "follow this if you like". so they can choose which relevant for them. that is not a big harm i think and they need to prove that their relationship is genuine too. so, they can follow which they need and relevant from this list.
it is simple...
thnx

 

[rowdboat]

I'm sponsoring my Chinese wife from within China to return to Canada, I have all I need to prove we'll be returning to Canada to live. However my proof of continued relationship may be a little bit harder...

So here is what we do have...

-Plenty of pictures of us together.
-Proof that my parents and brother paid and made a trip to China for our wedding and our trip together to Beijing. (We live in North East China)
-Wedding photos.
-2 videos on youtube, one of my proposal to my wife and one of the wedding.
-Facebook timeline showing we are in a relationship and eventually married.
-Letters from my employer validating our relationship. (it's where we met)
-Letters from family and friends validating our relationship as true.
-Chinese Marriage documents. translated and notarized already, married 05-21-2012
-I spent some time in the hospital recently, have forms that my wife signed on my behalf. (not translated)


What we don't have...

-Any sort of accounts with our names on it together. Banks here won't do it. The employer I work for owns the apartment we live in, so no go in that area.
-Don't have any accumulation of emails or IM chat. we corresponded solely by phone, text msgs and when we saw each other at work. Then when we started living together, even less by phone or texts.


What I'd like to know is, what proof is best and what of the proof that I do have will help and what will not help? I'm wondering if links to the youtube videos will help, or screenshots of my youtube account and vids with their titles? What of Facebook, are they likely to look into that, or is it best to take screens of that too? How can I make the most of what I've got?

Thanks in advance.

Hi I think you are all set and definitely have enough to prove genuine relationship. I filed my app without any proof of common bank accounts or properties and like you I also have tons of pictures and proofs. So far my husband was approved to sponsor and as per our GCMS notes (notes of visa officer regarding our app.) we have passed eligibility. Goodluck on your app

 

[Rob_TO]

Any sort of accounts with our names on it together. Banks here won't do it. The employer I work for owns the apartment we live in, so no go in that area.

If you want to show some joint finances, you could try the following:
- As you are a Canadian citizen, change your status with the CRA to married for tax purposes. Then take a screen shot of the status change and include in application. You can do this all online if you have "my account": http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/ndvdls/myccnt/menu-eng.html
- if your employer offers health benefits, add your wife as spouse/dependent, and print off the page that shows it
- you can get cheap term life insurance for each of you, with each other listed as beneficiary
- if one of you has a credit card, ask them if they can simply issue a 2nd supplementary card in spouse's name. Then 1 bill will show both your names

Don't have any accumulation of emails or IM chat. we corresponded solely by phone, text msgs and when we saw each other at work. Then when we started living together, even less by phone or texts.

You seem to have lots of other proof, so I think you are good. In our case when proving common-law, my wife and I saw each other everyday so just stated we communicated by talking in person, and didn't include ANY proof of communication. Proof here is mainly needed for long distance relationships.

I'm wondering if links to the youtube videos will help, or screenshots of my youtube account and vids with their titles? What of Facebook, are they likely to look into that, or is it best to take screens of that too?

CIC will NEVER look at links to websites. You must take screenshots of youtube vids or facebook pages, print them and write a caption explaining what it is.

However, my advice to you would be to consult an immigration lawyer and get your application filed through the lawyer. The reason for this is, if there is any complication, for you to solve or prove that individually is time consuming and will cause delay in the application timeline. You may be paying an extra $2000 to the lawyer but you will have peace of mind.

I would definitely NOT consider hiring a lawyer. Unless you feel like blowing over $2000 when you don't need to.

Lawyers/consultants should only be used in cases where criminality or eligibility may be an issue, or if you simply can't understand english/french enough to fill out the forms. Vast majority of people do the application themselves by following the guide CIC provides, and asking questions to this forum.