What we did for our proof of relationship section- is this ok????

[dominokitty]

I recently saw a big post where someone showed how they organized their application including pictures. It was really helpful when we were putting our application together but I realized we did our proof of relationship a bit differently and I'm wondering if what we did is ok or if I should change it??

What we did:

We have been a long distance relationship from the beginning (but have been together in person many times over the last few years, sometimes for a few weeks sometimes for a few months). We typed out a timeline of our relationship from the time we met until now, including dates when we were together and dates when we were apart.

For the times when we were together and visiting each other I wrote a paragraph explaining what we did, where we stayed, and which family members/friends we met at the time. I included copies of our flight records as well as photographs from each visit. For the times when we were apart I included samples of our communication with each other during that time (a few skype chats, some facebook messages, text messages. We never called each other on the phone because we could just facetime or use skype to see each other for free instead of paying $1.50 a minute for a cell phone call, so there are no phone records other than texts.).

The whole thing is organized sort of like a story/scrapbook of our relationship in chronological order. Is this ok or would it be better to keep all the photos together, all the flight records together, and all the communication together? Is it ok to print the photos on a page with text explaining what we did during that time or do the photos need to be "loose" on a page with nothing else? Currently it goes like this: time together explanation with photos/flights > time apart dates/communication > time together photos/flights > time apart dates/communication etc etc.

I want to make it as easy as possible for the immigration officer who works on our file to see the chronological development of our relationship, but I'm worried that the way we've set it up is different from the norm and might make it more complicated? They would have to read/scan through the pages in chronological order to see the development of our relationship. Is that weird? What do you guys think?

 

[dominokitty]

One more thing - do I need to include all of our skype correspondence? Because there is a lot of it, we are on skype with each other basically 24 hours a day for the last 3 years.. I exported the chat logs into excel and it ended up being something ridiculous like 800 pages. I feel like that's a lot of unnecessary paper and there's no way the immigration officer would be reading all of that anyway.. so what did you guys do?

 

[tink23]

Skype and face time is fine. Just take a screen shot of some calls. For Skype records, print maybe one a month, and explain you talked everyday and have more if they want.

For photos, I used a Microsoft program and put 2-3 per page and just put when it was, who is in the photo and what we were doing. This kept it much more organized. I numbered each page and photo, and in our development of relationship I referred to pictures that corresponded.

You should really keep all the photos together. Don't have thigs all over the place. Refer to them throughout the application, but don't have certain photos next to certain parts of the application bc they might get all mixed up.

 

[Ponga]

It would be helpful to share with us how you are being sponsored; Common-Law partner, Spouse, or Conjugal Partner.

If you are now married, this proof that you have assembled will be good.

If you are applying as Common-Law (which it doesn't sound like, since it doesn't appear that you are living together), you would need to focus on proof that confirms that you were living under the same roof (as a couple) for at least 1 full year.

If you are applying as a conjugal partner, you might have an uphill battle. Since you mentioned that you were able to meet each other in person, you would likely be able to get married (or live together), which would not be good for a conjugal application, IMHO.


Good luck!

 

[dominokitty]

Skype and face time is fine. Just take a screen shot of some calls. For Skype records, print maybe one a month, and explain you talked everyday and have more if they want.

For photos, I used a Microsoft program and put 2-3 per page and just put when it was, who is in the photo and what we were doing. This kept it much more organized. I numbered each page and photo, and in our development of relationship I referred to pictures that corresponded.

You should really keep all the photos together. Don't have thigs all over the place. Refer to them throughout the application, but don't have certain photos next to certain parts of the application bc they might get all mixed up.

That makes sense! So I could write something like "We visited from date-date, did such and such, see photo pages 1-3" for example?

 

[dominokitty]

It would be helpful to share with us how you are being sponsored; Common-Law partner, Spouse, or Conjugal Partner.

If you are now married, this proof that you have assembled will be good.

If you are applying as Common-Law (which it doesn't sound like, since it doesn't appear that you are living together), you would need to focus on proof that confirms that you were living under the same roof (as a couple) for at least 1 full year.

If you are applying as a conjugal partner, you might have an uphill battle. Since you mentioned that you were able to meet each other in person, you would likely be able to get married (or live together), which would not be good for a conjugal application, IMHO.


Good luck!

Oops! Yes, I forgot to mention, we got married this past july and have been busy getting our paperwork together since then. We met in person while travelling rather than online or anything like that. Kept it long distance because we both needed to work to be able to afford the intercontinental flights for visits every 3-4 months and living expenses. I'm a student working part-time so having him stay in Canada long-term wasn't an option unfortunately, and I could only visit him in Austria during breaks in university. We both had to keep our jobs and we weren't ready emotionally to be married until we'd been together for a while and were certain it's what we wanted.

I think it's a pretty clear cut case and shouldn't take too long hopefully, just want to make sure I organize it properly so they can process it as easily and quickly as possible.

 

[chipolopolo]

CIC ikes to see an on going relationship. If you have hundreds of skype logs, then just type a page from each month of the 3 years. That will show u have been in touch. Also label your photos if possible write date and where they were taken.
I would also recommend asking your close friends and family to write letters saying how they know you and that your marriage is known to them etc. And if possible if you know respectable people like doctors, policemen etc, lawyers you can also ask them to write letters supporting your relationship. Just giving you some ideas of what i did. Looks like your case is straight forward. All the best. If you need more advise please feel free to ask..this forum really helped me with my application, and am glad to pass on what i learnt

 

[tink23]

That makes sense! So I could write something like "We visited from date-date, did such and such, see photo pages 1-3" for example?

Yes, exactly.

 

[dominokitty]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I think what I will do, is keep our timeline in there but simply write "refer to photographs section, pages x-x" and "refer to communications section for samples, pages x-x" for the corresponding dates.

I do have one more question - often when we were visiting each other it was just the two of us, we have some spaces of time where we only have maybe one or two pictures together but lots of photos we took of each other. Should I omit those pictures and only include the ones with us together or with each other's family members and friends?

For example he went on a camping trip with my family without me a couple of times because he was visiting in Canada and I was working and unable to make it out. Fishing trip with my dad, etc.. Those should be included to prove that he knows my family well, right? And how many wedding photos should I include? We have way too many.. haha..

 

[tink23]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I think what I will do, is keep our timeline in there but simply write "refer to photographs section, pages x-x" and "refer to communications section for samples, pages x-x" for the corresponding dates.

I do have one more question - often when we were visiting each other it was just the two of us, we have some spaces of time where we only have maybe one or two pictures together but lots of photos we took of each other. Should I omit those pictures and only include the ones with us together or with each other's family members and friends?

For example he went on a camping trip with my family without me a couple of times because he was visiting in Canada and I was working and unable to make it out. Fishing trip with my dad, etc.. Those should be included to prove that he knows my family well, right? And how many wedding photos should I include? We have way too many.. haha..

Yes, include the photos of your spouse with your family and vice versa, even if you weren't there.
If you want to include one photo of each of you that you took of each other in the same location, then that will be okay too. If you're organizing them on the computer, multiple photos per page, then it won't take up much space anyway. For wedding photos, include a couple of the actual ceremony, a couple of the few of you guys together for the typical wedding/ ceremony shots, and a few with you guys with guests. If you're putting more than 15 or 20 of the total wedding/ reception with guests, then definitely cut back. 15-20 is more than enough. Even less would be perfectly fine. It also depends where you're applying from. If your applying from another developed country, with equal economic opportunities to Canada, then you will require less proof and photos. If you're applying from a developing country that doesn't have equal opportunities to Canada, then you should include more proof.

 

[wowsers]

I do have one more question - often when we were visiting each other it was just the two of us, we have some spaces of time where we only have maybe one or two pictures together but lots of photos we took of each other. Should I omit those pictures and only include the ones with us together or with each other's family members and friends?

For example he went on a camping trip with my family without me a couple of times because he was visiting in Canada and I was working and unable to make it out. Fishing trip with my dad, etc.. Those should be included to prove that he knows my family well, right? And how many wedding photos should I include? We have way too many.. haha..

Since you are married your application is more straightforward than if you were not married: the main focus of the VO is likely to be on whether or not your marriage was entered into just to gain entry to Canada as a PR. Proof of a relationship over a long period of time should suffice to establish the bona fides of the marriage; so you need not go overboard with photographic proof. Make a small selection of photographs - say one for each visit if they are available. Photos of one of you with family or friends during a visit will be relevant also. By way of example only - everyone's circumstances differ - my partner and I are not married but we have lived together for a long time: 16 years I think. I hardly ever take photographs and the only photographs available were about half a dozen taken of me by my partner and a few taken of us both supplied by friends and family. As I recollect I did not send more than about 10 photos altogether, because that was all I had. I included photos of our dogs and cats, the garden etc taken by my partner because in conjunction with receipts by both of us for plants, dog food and the like the photos all helped to establish a genuine family relationship. No problems arose. If you look at it all from the viewpoint of the VO your husband's application should be far simpler to deal with than an application weighed down by a deluge of photos.