Gathering evidence?

[beeelythe]

Hey everyone!

We're gathering all of the evidence to send in for the Family Class Sponsorship application as Common Law Spouses.  We have photos from my birthday, Christmas together, as wedding guests, etc.  I can get a call log from AT&T for both of our phones showing that we call one another daily (even though we live together).  I wish there was a way to print out and include our text message exchanges.  I would love to put e-mails in, but we never really exchanged e-mails since we were almost always in the same city at the same time.  We can submit our lease as well as bank statements showing that we each paid rent to our landlord.  Our friends and family members will happily write letters on our behalf attesting to the validity of our relationship.  We have evidence of booked flights together and hotels from trips.

We had a joint bank account for the first year we lived together but we dissolved it because we were with different banks (at the time).  We're opening another one this coming weekend, but it will be new.  I'm a little nervous about that.   Also, since I'm a student and he recently graduated from college, we haven't made any large joint purchases (either together or separately).  And we divided up most of our bills so we pay the same amount by each taking care of separate expenses (he pays our internet, I pay Netflix, etc.).

Unfortunately we were both kind of dimwitted and didn't think to keep a lot of ticket stubs or receipts.  I suppose we could show our bank statements with visits to restaurants in and out of town though.  Would that count?

I was just wondering what kind of evidence would be necessary?  Has anyone had experience with this?  What would you suggest?  It feels so weird to have been dating this man for two and a half years and having lived together for a year and a half and have to come up with proof that we love one another and live together.  I want to make sure all my T's are crossed and my I's dotted.

Any advice would be appreciated!  Thanks!

[sidkrose]

I really don't think you'll have a problem, all of your evidence sounds great. Remember, all of the suggestions for evidence are not NECESSARY, just ideas, so if you don't have all the evidence someone else has, that's ok. The most important things to show beyond a doubt that you lived together at least 12 consecutive months, and that you are a genuine couple. If you have a lease, and some joint bills for 12 consecutive months, that's great, and if you have lots of photos, phone logs and support letters, you should be fine. I might suggest cards or notes that you wrote to each other, if you have any, or proof that you took trips together (flight tickets, hotel reservations, etc).

But honestly, all your evidence sounds good. I think you'll be just fine.

[beeelythe]

Thanks for your reply and reassurance!

I sincerely hope everything goes smoothly.  I just don't have call logs and receipts from over a year ago.  Most of mine (obviously except the lease and photographs) are from more recently when I became aware that I should be collecting them.  I just hope that this doesn't hurt our chances!