relationship proof

[cherrylu]

Is anyone here could possibly share a checklist when preparing your relationship proof?

Trying to collect as much as proof we can right now.

Thanks.

 

[pelipeli]

Hi,
Here's mine


Proof of relationship


Contains:
1. A main table of contents summarizing how i divided the documents and number of pages
2. 3 main sections:
a. Photos
b. Communication
c. Other Documents


What is included:
a. Photos :
This is what is stated on the cover sheet:

The following photos show our relationship through the years from the year that we met in 2006 until our latest photos in 2012. The photos are arranged in chronological order, and captioned accordingly for the people in the photo, event or ocassion, date and place taken, and person/s who took the photo. To give a bird's eyeview of the entire photo set, here is our relationship timeline as depicted in the photos:

2006- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2007-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2008-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2009-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2010-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2011-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2012-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I also explained that:
• I used Microsoft Publisher to lay out several photos on one sheet instead of printing on photo paper, that this is more economical and organized.
• that captions and narrations are done in third person point of view since it gets rather confusing when using first person pronouns since my husband and I both did the captions.

Tip: We included photos that really depicted the development of our relationship. We included photos of not just us, but us with family member s and friends, highlghting special ocassions, showing activities we enjoy doing. We also made it a point to show “passage of time”. Like changes in weight, hairstyle, and also photos of us with nephews and our dog from the time they are little up to present, and we included a note at the earliest photo with them, indicating or referenicing that earliest photo to the page numbers where we have photos with them as they grow older.

b. Communication
In the coversheet, I explained the following:
• normal forms of communications we have
• the lack of various evidences (like chat logs, phone bills)
• That scanned copies were sent and not originals, for sentimental value. But if they deem it necessary to still see originals then we will provide them at a later date upon request
• That envelpes are not postmarked since all were hand delivered
• That we often converse in our native language and thus some are not in English. However, we have provided English translations which were done by us to the best of our abilities (since these are non-official forms and documents). However, should they require official or certified translations , we will provide them at a later date upon request
• That we sometimes use pet names or nicknames in the letters and gave examples and meanings of these pet names (the VO may get confused as to whom the addressees on the letters are)

Tips: Whenever there are sentences not in English, we highlighted them and provided an English translation below the scanned letter or card, and indicated “translated by: xxxxxx”

For emails, what we did is print all emails as they are , with the conversations highlighted in color, then copy pasted the entire thing on Word, then replaced the highlighted conversations with English translations if necessary. If already in English, we just left it as is, then priinted this as well. So now we have two sets of emails, one is as is, one is with translations. And if you compare the pages of the two sets side by side , they correspond as to the formatting, spacing, and paging so that the VO will be able to compare the untraslated stuff vs the translated stuff better.


c. Others Documents:
Under this, we included evrything else we can think of:
Movie Tickets- Shows almost all of our cinema tickets for the movies we saw together since 2007 up to 2011

Trips - Shows plane tickets, boarding passes, and various receipts for two major trips we took

Joint bank accounts - Shows scanned copies of bank certificates, passbook and ATM cards of our joint accounts

Wedding contracts and receipts - Shows copies of contracts and receipts from suppliers for our wedding such as videographers, reception hall, wedding coordinator, and others

Pre-marriage requirements- Shows copies of documents that we obtained as pre-marriage requirements such as municipal seminars and license, proof of marriage eligibility from our Church, and others

Wedding greetings-Shows scanned copies of wedding greetings from guests and relatives which were written on gift cards

Wedding guestbook and signature frame-Contains scanned pages of our wedding guestbook showing signatures of our wedding guests, and a photo of our signature frame, which is a framed photo/portrait on which guests wrote down their greetings.

Invitations to family occasions-Shows some of our saved copies of invitations (printed or posted in Facebook) for occasions such as birthdays, christening or weddings in which we were invited.

Relationship Keepsakes- Shows some of our treasured keepsakes to remember our journey together like gifts / flowers given, dinner date mementos, and others

Facebook Printouts - Shows our interactions on FB, where it can be seen that our relationship is known to the world, especially to our friends and families who also interact with us on posts, photos and statuses. It shows our interactions since 2009 when we started using Facebook. (we used the “show relationship” tool in FB for this) Also included here are screen prints showing that my hubby is a “group member” of my clan groups. Also included are screen prints of wedding greetings from our FB friends. (Sadly, before 2009, we used friendster and we haven't been able to retrieve our data from there before it shut down. We explained this fact)

Wedding Invitation - Actual copy of our wedding invitation


hope this helps =)

 

[LeisaP]

Hey.
we applied common-law.so we had a little bit more to prove than for a married couple but here is what we sent in

we sent about:
-300-400 pictures of events in a timeline journal from when we met till when we sent in the app.
-6 or 7 letters from friends, family and employers stating they knew of our relationship and what they thought of it. im not sure if its necessary them be notarized. ours werent.
- a notarized common-law declaration.
- our rental lease with both our names on it
-bills with both names on it, hydro, cable, internet
- joint bank account
- joint costco card
-a car under both of our names
- proof we purchased a dog together
- my spouse has life insurance with me as his beneficiary
- letters from employers. we happen to work for the same person.
- receipts from gifts we have given eachother
- facebook logs
-facebook logs of our parents talking to eachother (they are facebook nerds, never met in real life, but they talk online Tongue )
- plane tickets of trips we took together
-my brother passed away and my spouse flew with me to attend the funeral so we posted items from the funeral, proof that he came with me
- pictures of him with my family.
- events tickets, movies, sports events, etc.
- proof we filed our taxes together as common-law

hope this helps

 

[cherrylu]

Thank you a lot, I already took some note from your list. Very good checklist.

We have been living together for 2 years in China, we barely send email to each other or talk on the phone. I guess I will need to have a covering
letter for that. We didnt have a wedding ceremony either as my mother just passed away in June last year, and according to my custom, I have to stay in a mourning period for 3 years. Any family menbers are not supposed to have any ceremony of marriage. Hopefully Canada will understand the tradition of my hometown. we are also not a big fan of all kinds ceremony though, but we do have a lot of photos travelling together, but we didnt keep the plane tickets or any related documents. :-[ Big mistake.

Any more suggestions based on our situation?

Thanks.

 

[LeisaP]

Thank you a lot, I already took some note from your list. Very good checklist.

We have been living together for 2 years in China, we barely send email to each other or talk on the phone. I guess I will need to have a covering
letter for that. We didnt have a wedding ceremony either as my mother just passed away in June last year, and according to my custom, I have to stay in a mourning period for 3 years. Any family menbers are not supposed to have any ceremony of marriage. Hopefully Canada will understand the tradition of my hometown. we are also not a big fan of all kinds ceremony though, but we do have a lot of photos travelling together, but we didnt keep the plane tickets or any related documents. :-[ Big mistake.

Any more suggestions based on our situation?

Thanks.

did you book your plane tickets online?
if you did maybe you can go through old emails and see if you can find the confirmation emails.
or sometimes if it wasnt to long ago you can call the airline and they can send you a copy of the confirmation.

we had to do that with west jet.
because we didnt keep our tickets. so i only sent in the confirmation and receipts

 

[ladyjess]

that is a lot, wow! good job!

 

[cherrylu]

Thanks a lot. We were actually thinking about that too. I think it would be ok.

 

[LauraCanada]

Hi,

If you want to have a look at this link you will find useful suggestions from some amazing members of this community, they have been very helpful for me
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/more-evidence-of-commoninlaw-relationship-t112562.0.html;msg1631548#msg1631548

 

[cherrylu]

Hey, thanks a lot. Really good advice out of there. The thing is that we dont have a joint account,(its very complicated to open a joint account in China). both of us dont have any insurance. Will it be a problem? Or how can we make it up with other things? :'(

 

[Fencesitter]

It's not as complicated as you may think to open a joint account. My wife and I were able to do it at the ICBC bank. Yes, it took a lot longer than it needed to, but hey, this is China; the banking system is absolutely horrible!

Keep in mind that if you open the joint account right before sending you app, it might not be a good idea, as this might lead the visa officer to think you only opened it for immigration purposes.

Health insurance is easy to get, but again, anything purchased right before sending the app might look a bit dodgy.

FS

 

[cherrylu]

Fencesitter, Thanks again.

That's our concern too. Now it seems a bit too late for all these joint account or insurance thing.

I guess we will just have to provide other more evidence to show we have a real relationship. Hopefully it would work too.

Another question: how long it took for your wife to get the PR? Is it really better if my husband go back to CA and get a job before we apply?

Thanks a lot for your patience and help.

 

[Fencesitter]

My wife is still waiting for her PR visa. Her app was received in HK on July 19.

There is no need for your husband to return to Canada. All you need to do is provide enough proof to satisfy the visa officer that he will return with you when you get your visa. I've posted this in other threads, but I'll do it again. Here is what I provided as proof of my intention to return to Canada:

1. Job offer in Canada (if you can't provide this, at least provide evidence that you've been looking for work);
2. Letter from my parents stating we can stay with them until we get our housing sorted;
3. E-mail correspondence between myself and banks / realtors enquiring about mortgage options / properties for sale;
4. 4.5 page detailed relocation plan (covering every possible thing I could think of, including how we will cut our ties with China);
5. Updated relocation plan (5 pages) including the following evidence:
a) signed and stamped pet relocation contract
b) quotation for our tickets to Canada
c) exit permit for our son (he's already a Canadian citizen)
d) signed lease extension addendum (with mention of why - uncertainty of when my wife's visa will be issued)
e) shipping quotation for stuff we plan to ship to Canada
f) updated correspondence with the banks / realtors
g) future plans for employment (for my wife)
h) our plans for our son's schooling
i) detailed relocation budget (pet relocation, air tickets, pet fee at Toronto airport, new furniture, purchase of a car, down payment on a house, etc...

I put a lot of work into the updated proof of intent to re-establish in Canada.

Hope this helps.

FS

 

[cherrylu]

COOL! Thanks a lot. really appreciate for your help.

 

[alive77]

my relationship was with my (now) husband was not public, coming from a failed relationship since my family got affected with my previous "almost fiance", I decided not to make my new relationship discreet learning from the past event with my ex.

For this reason, My family did not meet my fiance' whos a Canadian Citizen even when he was in the Philippines for a short span of time. We are on a Long distance Relationship .

Should I provide information in my application about how my family took my failed relationship then so I can justify why we did not have any photos with my family?.

Should I provide the PROOF of RELATIONSHIP in its ORIGINAL COPY? Like the letters /photos.