Question about spousal sponsorship form, as well as photos/evidence/etc

[lookingforinfo]

Hi. I posted here before and got some help from some amazing people, and I am super grateful. The time is coming up for when my fiance comes to Canada so that we can get married and get all our forms figured out and submitted for her to immigrate up here.

My first question:
In the form IMM5533E under "4. Class of Application" it gives 3 options.

• I am currently living in Canada with my sponsor, and I am applying under the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class.
• I am currently living outside Canada, and I am applying under the Family Class.
• I am currently living in Canada, and I am applying under the Family Class (not under the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class). I understand that I may be convoked to attend an interview at a visa office outside Canada.

What confuses us is the 2nd one. I think we were planning to do this outland, but it seems they combined everything into one package, so I'm not sure what we would do in this situation. The 2nd one is the only option for outside of Canada, but it only mentions Family Class, and doesn't mention Spouse sponsorship which is what we will be wanting to do.

My next question has to do with the evidence we provide (pictures, etc):
For pictures, do they need to be on actual photo paper, or can they just be printed on a colour printer? Same with things such as birthday cards, or letters we've written each other. Can those all just be photocopied?
For things such as chat logs, is it sufficient to just pull some small excerpts from each month or something? just to show we were in constant communication, or do they want longer chat logs?

We plan on having 20 photos (since it seems this is the max now).

For the part asking for:
One (1) document from three (3) of the following sets of options:

• Joint ownership of residential property or joint residential leases or joint rental agreements listing both the sponsor and the principal applicant
• Proof of joint utilities accounts
• Important documents for you and your sponsor showing the same address, such as copies of Government issued identification documents: driver's licenses, insurance policies, etc
• Important documents for you or your sponsor showing that you are recognized as each other's spouse
• Documentary evidence of financial support between your sponsor and yourself
• Other proof that your relationship is recognized by your friends and/or family

I'm a little confused. First of all it says out of the *three* following sets of options? are each two items in the list a set? do you need one from each set? or just one overall?
For the last point "proof that relationship is recognized by friends and family", we figured we could just attach images of our facebook posts for when we started dating and got engaged (and married after that happens) where the people we know would have posted comments and likes.
I guess showing that we are recognized as each others spouse could be the marriage certificate?
I guess we would also take some photocopies of boarding passes we might have kept (didn't think to keep all of them at the beginning of the relationship <_<)

Is there anything else that you could recommend to us for the proof part of the application?

Thanks everybody! I hope I can get more clarification here, and wish you all the best in your situations as well!

 

[dlre]

See my response in red below

Hi. I posted here before and got some help from some amazing people, and I am super grateful. The time is coming up for when my fiance comes to Canada so that we can get married and get all our forms figured out and submitted for her to immigrate up here.

My first question:
In the form IMM5533E under "4. Class of Application" it gives 3 options.

• I am currently living in Canada with my sponsor, and I am applying under the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class.
• I am currently living outside Canada, and I am applying under the Family Class.
• I am currently living in Canada, and I am applying under the Family Class (not under the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class). I understand that I may be convoked to attend an interview at a visa office outside Canada.

What confuses us is the 2nd one. I think we were planning to do this outland, but it seems they combined everything into one package, so I'm not sure what we would do in this situation. The 2nd one is the only option for outside of Canada, but it only mentions Family Class, and doesn't mention Spouse sponsorship which is what we will be wanting to do. Second category. Spousal sponsorship is within the family class

My next question has to do with the evidence we provide (pictures, etc):
For pictures, do they need to be on actual photo paper, or can they just be printed on a colour printer? Same with things such as birthday cards, or letters we've written each other. Can those all just be photocopied? Yes, you can just print the photos in colour on paper
For things such as chat logs, is it sufficient to just pull some small excerpts from each month or something? just to show we were in constant communication, or do they want longer chat logs? Just a few here and there to show constant contact

We plan on having 20 photos (since it seems this is the max now). yes

For the part asking for:
One (1) document from three (3) of the following sets of options:

• Joint ownership of residential property or joint residential leases or joint rental agreements listing both the sponsor and the principal applicant
• Proof of joint utilities accounts
• Important documents for you and your sponsor showing the same address, such as copies of Government issued identification documents: driver's licenses, insurance policies, etc
• Important documents for you or your sponsor showing that you are recognized as each other's spouse
• Documentary evidence of financial support between your sponsor and yourself
• Other proof that your relationship is recognized by your friends and/or family

I'm a little confused. First of all it says out of the *three* following sets of options? are each two items in the list a set? do you need one from each set? or just one overall?
For the last point "proof that relationship is recognized by friends and family", we figured we could just attach images of our facebook posts for when we started dating and got engaged (and married after that happens) where the people we know would have posted comments and likes. yes. you can also ask a few of them to write a letter stating they know of your relationship, eg they went on double dates with you, group dates, family parties etc.
I guess showing that we are recognized as each others spouse could be the marriage certificate? yes
I guess we would also take some photocopies of boarding passes we might have kept (didn't think to keep all of them at the beginning of the relationship <_<) yup

Is there anything else that you could recommend to us for the proof part of the application?

Thanks everybody! I hope I can get more clarification here, and wish you all the best in your situations as well!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

The 2nd one is the only option for outside of Canada, but it only mentions Family Class, and doesn't mention Spouse sponsorship which is what we will be wanting to do.

For pictures, do they need to be on actual photo paper, or can they just be printed on a colour printer? Same with things such as birthday cards, or letters we've written each other. Can those all just be photocopied?

For things such as chat logs, is it sufficient to just pull some small excerpts from each month or something? just to show we were in constant communication, or do they want longer chat logs?

I'm a little confused. First of all it says out of the *three* following sets of options? are each two items in the list a set? do you need one from each set? or just one overall?

For the last point "proof that relationship is recognized by friends and family", we figured we could just attach images of our facebook posts for when we started dating and got engaged (and married after that happens) where the people we know would have posted comments and likes.

I guess showing that we are recognized as each others spouse could be the marriage certificate?

Family Class = outland spousal sponsorship. Options 2 and 3 are both outland. If you want to apply outland while in Canada, option 3 is correct.

Regular paper and photocopies are fine.

They want a max of 10 pages of communication proofs if you are not living together at the time of applying.

It states "one document from 3 of the following...". There are 6 following options and you need to pick 3 of those, pretty clear.

Facebook posts aren't enough. Get letters.

No, your marriage certificate does not qualify for that proof. As stated, they are looking for things like insurance and benefits policies listing your spouse.

 

[danawhitaker]

For the last point "proof that relationship is recognized by friends and family", we figured we could just attach images of our facebook posts for when we started dating and got engaged (and married after that happens) where the people we know would have posted comments and likes.

This is actually pretty much all I provided in terms of friends and family acknowledging the relationship. I didn't provide letters from anyone acknowledging they knew about our relationship. I provided statuses from all the major relationships stage changes (with comments and likes). We also provided the posts and check-ins from joint outings with any friends or family. Two of our friends were the witnesses at our wedding, as well, so we wrote about that in the story of how our relationship progressed.

I guess I did also provide scanned copies of the cards we received at our wedding and after, congratulating us. But I did not include any formal kind of letter written by people saying that they knew about the relationship, spent time with us, etc. You may want to do that if you feel that your proof in some areas is particularly weak, or depending on what country you're from. But even with a fairly short timeline between dating > engagement > wedding, I didn't get asked for anything else. Keep in mind that the burden of proof is lower for certain visa offices than others.

 

[lookingforinfo]

It states "one document from 3 of the following...". There are 6 following options and you need to pick 3 of those, pretty clear.

What if we don't have, one from each pair of things? Since she doesn't live in Canada, why would we have any joint properties or utilities? We clearly wouldn't be living at the same address yet, and thus wouldn't have documents that prove a thing that doesn't exist. The only possible thing I could prove out of those 6 options, is that our family and friends knew/know about our relationship.

 

[lookingforinfo]

Sorry, I can't seem to find an edit button. (Am I just blind maybe?)

Either way, I wanted to point out that she is from the United States and I have been here for 99% of my life and a Canadian citizen

 

[danawhitaker]

What if we don't have, one from each pair of things? Since she doesn't live in Canada, why would we have any joint properties or utilities? We clearly wouldn't be living at the same address yet, and thus wouldn't have documents that prove a thing that doesn't exist. The only possible thing I could prove out of those 6 options, is that our family and friends knew/know about our relationship.

We didn't have most of that stuff either, as we didn't live together before applying either. We applied under the old application kit, however, so it's hard to know for sure how they are going to address that. I would, at the very least, provide written explanations for the things that you don't have. Then provide as much as you can (up to the limits they give in terms of quantity) of the categories that do apply to you. That's the best you can do. I've seen a few comments recently with people mentioning applications being returned and proof of relationship being cited as why, but I suspect in those cases the missing items might not have been addressed in any fashion. Even though it might seem obvious they wouldn't be there if not living together, explain it.

 

[lookingforinfo]

We didn't have most of that stuff either, as we didn't live together before applying either. We applied under the old application kit, however, so it's hard to know for sure how they are going to address that. I would, at the very least, provide written explanations for the things that you don't have. Then provide as much as you can (up to the limits they give in terms of quantity) of the categories that do apply to you. That's the best you can do. I've seen a few comments recently with people mentioning applications being returned and proof of relationship being cited as why, but I suspect in those cases the missing items might not have been addressed in any fashion. Even though it might seem obvious they wouldn't be there if not living together, explain it.

I guess that makes sense. Thanks! I suppose that's good advice overall for the application. If for some reason there is something we can't provide, we should explain why that's the case and hope that they are ok with that. Thanks