Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

[Kiri]

Just popped on here to see what was going on... I'm an old-timer I guess, but I wish everyone the best.

Anyhow, I saw the above comment and wanted to respond. I would go ahead and send most or all of those photos (but maybe taking out any duplicates from the same event that don't add any new information, if there are any of those). We sent in about 100 pictures, BUT they were digital and I copy/pasted them into a Publisher document. There were multiple photos on each page (with notes/dates/etc for each) and arranged chronologically. I think there were only 10 or 11 letter-size pages of photos in total.

Emails/letters/written communication.... If you have just a bit more of something in these lines, I would try to add it in. We sent in emails, cards and letters from the beginning of our relationship to the point where we sent off the application. I printed/copied a representative sample spread out about equally throughout our dating/marriage.

Yes, it was hard to decide to share that stuff with a complete stranger, but I wanted to err on the side of open communication. We only put emails that we felt comfortable including, but they were personal (as well as appropriate). I figured the people reviewing the file would want to see that our relationship was one where we communicated personally. So...whoever read our file (and approved it) knows our nicknames for each other, how we sign off emails to each other, how we talked about what we ate for dinner, and how cheesy we can be with each other. They got copies of our anniversary cards and other hand-written cards/notes.

Yep. It's personal. But I didn't share anything I wasn't okay with sharing with whoever was going to decide if we had a real relationship. And it was worth it to me to feel like I did everything I could to provide the "evidence" that would clearly communicate the authenticity of our relationship. I'm an extrovert, so maybe I didn't struggle too much with this idea, but for me, I wanted to do everything I could to get our application approved, including sharing personal details because I thought it would help give a better idea about our relationship.

Good luck in your process, whatever you decide!

Oh dear Lord I'm having a mini freak out inside. I'm totally extroverted.. lovey dovey and all.. but he's sooo introverted. He's not one to write letters and stuff. Our means of written communication was texting.. and my phone company can't get me the records -- but I still have it all in my phone. Could I take a photo of my phone log and put it on the computer, circle the entry that is his name with the number beside it and that count? It's the total amount for the entire time we've been talking. Never deleted it. Other than that... I honestly have nothing on the written front. The OTHER reason for this is because seeing as I work from home and he was a student, we spent our free time "with" one another on World of Warcraft and on Ventrillo (voice chat thing that's free and lots of people are on, but you can go to private 'rooms' to talk)... we talked on this HOURS upon HOURS EVERYDAY - in fact, the first time we ever met each other was on Ventrilo when our mutual friend invited me on because I was going to do something in game with him and his friends. Tons of communication... we were glued to each other on that. ..downside? It can't document time personally spent talking with someone.. it can't even log time spent on it period by users. Other chatting was MSN though... I don't know if I can get logs there.


I think I will do that about the photos.


EDIT: Scratch the Ventrilo logs! I got them!!! It shows the time we got on and all that... wooohoo. The old admin emailed me them.

Also, I do have MSN logs from the 3 weeks I went back to SC in mid-November-Dec 3.. however, it's 66 pages worth -- that's a bit much to be sending. Any suggestions?

 

[Minnow]

yay g-man! finally!!!

 

[Minnow]

Hey Kiri,
It looks like you are doing a wonderful job with all the extras you are including in your app. Something I learned from the forums before sending our app in was how to organize it. We included a "cover letter" and it served as somewhat of a table of contents. It described what was in each package, and it was a couple of sheets on top of our folders. I had 3 big folders (they wouldn't fit in those orange manila envelopes so I had to use bigger white ones - which happened to have bubble wrap lining the inside). On top of each folder I had a "title page" of what was inside of each folder (it was basically sponsor folder, principal applicant, and supporting documents) and then I just used sticky notes on every page inside describing what the document was. I also wrote the names and birth dates on the back of every photo (I had the photos enclosed in several small packages in whatever section they applied to). I really liked Moonlightprancers way of organizing and it sounds like the Seattle office did too - she used a binder to organize everything. I think the way you present your application may have some pull...it can't hurt! Good luck!

 

[Kiri]

Hey Kiri,
It looks like you are doing a wonderful job with all the extras you are including in your app. Something I learned from the forums before sending our app in was how to organize it. We included a "cover letter" and it served as somewhat of a table of contents. It described what was in each package, and it was a couple of sheets on top of our folders. I had 3 big folders (they wouldn't fit in those orange manila envelopes so I had to use bigger white ones - which happened to have bubble wrap lining the inside). On top of each folder I had a "title page" of what was inside of each folder (it was basically sponsor folder, principal applicant, and supporting documents) and then I just used sticky notes on every page inside describing what the document was. I also wrote the names and birth dates on the back of every photo (I had the photos enclosed in several small packages in whatever section they applied to). I really liked Moonlightprancers way of organizing and it sounds like the Seattle office did too - she used a binder to organize everything. I think the way you present your application may have some pull...it can't hurt! Good luck!

Yep, I bought a bunch of those folders, some highlighters to emphasize this and that, paper clips, staples, labels, and even dividing tabs to section off each month for each thing I send in. Moonlightprancer helped a bit on giving me the ideas by sending me some great info on her organizing.


How would you suggest I handle the huge amount of pages of the MSN log? ; Not send it all? (and it's actually 56 after formatting it to wordpad)

 

[g-man]

To anyone who's gone through the entire process: What do I need to get my SIN at a Service Centre? Do I have to wait until my PR card comes in the mail?

 

[Minnow]

You could send the whole thing, or you could send beginning, middle, and end. We had to do that with our cell phone log (we had about 20-40 pages per month of texts/phone calls back and forth over a period of two years). We sent one from the first and second months we started dating, one from the middle, and one a few months prior to when we sent in our app. We used those 'black binder clips' to keep those pages together.

 

[Minnow]

To anyone who's gone through the entire process: What do I need to get my SIN at a Service Centre? Do I have to wait until my PR card comes in the mail?

You need to visit a Service Canada location. Here is a link to what is needed:
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sin/apply/proof.shtml

 

[g-man]

You need to visit a Service Canada location. Here is a link to what is needed:
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sin/apply/proof.shtml

Thanks! I looked around for a while on their site but I wasn't able to find that page.

 

[Isometry]

EDIT: Scratch the Ventrilo logs! I got them!!! It shows the time we got on and all that... wooohoo. The old admin emailed me them.

Also, I do have MSN logs from the 3 weeks I went back to SC in mid-November-Dec 3.. however, it's 66 pages worth -- that's a bit much to be sending. Any suggestions?

How'd you get the vent logs? My husband and I were in basically the same situation--lots of time spent 'with' each other on WoW and vent... but were never able to figure out how to get the logs.

It doesn't matter now, but I'm really curious.

 

[Moonlightprancer]

Kiri, I sounds like you have all the basis covered! Way to go!! Depending on cell provider they can give you a text log ( talk to a high up person) if u stye it is for the immigration officer.... Verizon did it for us they don't usually.... Again depends on cell provider. They don't state what messages say but they go back six months to a yr. As for emails and chat logs etc. I suggest pick a few random dates and include a note that states more available if needed. Any private sentences black out with marker. I also did a email search filter with my hubby's email addy and just printe off the list of emails not the actual emails. These say dates without the details which isn't their business! It does reflect communication. As for pictures I had emailed mine to a photlab to make copies but reflecting back now... I wouldn't have sent so many pictures just 20 or so depicting u and your love together at different venues etc with friends etc u can scan them and photocopy cheaper too. The immigration officer told me I sent too many haha they don't like paying to mail the stuff back to you. Good luck !

 

[GOGOGO]

Thanks homi2285.

Pardon my ignorance, can US OPT be extended?

A lot of people waiting out in Canada as visitor. It's good to be able to live with the significant other, though not being able to work etc can be quite boring and painful over time. It'd be good if you can be prepared and try to get something to do to occupy your mind while waiting.

CONGRAT GOGOGO!!!

I'm so worried right now.. What's going on with July batch ( like mine) and the May batch ?

My US OPT will end in mid-June. I'm planning to apply for Canadian visitor visa in mid May and move to Canada to be with my husband in visitor visa if I still haven't heard back about the PR by then.

Could anyone let me know if that would be a good idea? thanks in advance.

 

[Kiri]

You could send the whole thing, or you could send beginning, middle, and end. We had to do that with our cell phone log (we had about 20-40 pages per month of texts/phone calls back and forth over a period of two years). We sent one from the first and second months we started dating, one from the middle, and one a few months prior to when we sent in our app. We used those 'black binder clips' to keep those pages together.

Thanks!!

How'd you get the vent logs? My husband and I were in basically the same situation--lots of time spent 'with' each other on WoW and vent... but were never able to figure out how to get the logs.

It doesn't matter now, but I'm really curious.

The owner of the vent can access the logs through the website control panel. (Owner, whoever pays to run it... your guild master or what not.) Lucky for us, our GM is actually the one who introduced us and my common law partner's best friend. I asked him today and he looked and the only logs left were one month prior to our official becoming a couple to the month we met face to face... what are the odds? He sent them right over. I've removed the IPs and all the misc information and just left timestamp, login, user name. timestamp, disconnect, user name to show the time we had.... cause I mean, we were on there so often in our free time because we wanted to be together... 12hrs at a time and stuff.. Example of it looks like this if you're curious:

20110324 15:39:09 LOGON: HIS USERNAME
20110324 17:54:06 LOGON: MY USERNAME
20110325 03:10:58 MSG_DISC: Name=HIS USERNAME
20110325 05:02:53 MSG_DISC: Name=MY USERNAME

As you can see, example of a one of our many long days where he came online at 3:59pm, and I came at 5:54pm and he stayed till 3:10am, and I stayed till 5:01am (talking to others).

I've got Jan 2011, March 2011, April 2011... and while 3 month doesn't seem like a lot... it's logs of EVERYDAY of those months cause we did not miss a day.

This is how your GM (or whoever owns the vent server) would get the info: http://www.ehow.com/how_6812269_check-ventrilo-logs.html

I'm hellbent on getting status to be with my darlin' so I'm grabbing whatever I can. Even including the game time we both bought to show we subscribed to the same service to play together.

You guys still play?

Kiri, I sounds like you have all the basis covered! Way to go!! Depending on cell provider they can give you a text log ( talk to a high up person) if u stye it is for the immigration officer.... Verizon did it for us they don't usually.... Again depends on cell provider. They don't state what messages say but they go back six months to a yr. As for emails and chat logs etc. I suggest pick a few random dates and include a note that states more available if needed. Any private sentences black out with marker. I also did a email search filter with my hubby's email addy and just printe off the list of emails not the actual emails. These say dates without the details which isn't their business! It does reflect communication. As for pictures I had emailed mine to a photlab to make copies but reflecting back now... I wouldn't have sent so many pictures just 20 or so depicting u and your love together at different venues etc with friends etc u can scan them and photocopy cheaper too. The immigration officer told me I sent too many haha they don't like paying to mail the stuff back to you. Good luck !

Thanks!! I'm so glad to hear that!! I've been soooo stressed trying to make sure I had all things covered. I'm with Verizon, and I think I will try to talk to a supervisor about the situation. I tried once and they claimed to talk to a supervisor.. but meh. My actual bill on the website only gives me 3 months, so we'll see if I can get better. GREAT idea on the emails.. I thought they might not have believed it if it was just a list. Thank you! That boosts my emails up around double! Yayy!!!

 

[awor]

I think I've developed a twitch with this blasted waiting for our passports, or even some word that they are coming. Or not coming. Or that sea otters ate them. ANYTHING. Even my eternally patient husband is getting pissy at them (not the sea otters, LA of course)!

 

[parker24]

Anyone hear that the stage 1 went up to 84 days? I just checked the site and it still says 75? I'm worried.. and confused!! ???

 

[muffy1]

SEA OTTERS----haha....THANK YOU...I so needed that!!

I understand your frustration. This probably won't help much but I would give anything to be at PPR stage. It will come soon

ALL THE BEST!

I think I've developed a twitch with this blasted waiting for our passports, or even some word that they are coming. Or not coming. Or that sea otters ate them. ANYTHING. Even my eternally patient husband is getting pissy at them (not the sea otters, LA of course)!