If the CIC doesn't accept calling cards, how do I prove my calls?

[ftanired]

Hi guys,

I live in Canada, and my girlfriend is Brazilian. In a few years we will get married and I will sponsor her to Canada.

My dilemmas are:

1. I call her by using calling cards (since it's cheaper that way, because regular long distance calls are mighty expensive as you know), but I'm aware that the CIC does not accept calling cards as proofs of communication. The phone bills don't actually show that I call her number, but instead the number of the calling card company.
So how would I prove our calls then?! I'm sure many of you are/were in the same situation, and I'd be interested to know how you go about doing this.

2. I'm the one who mostly make the calls. There's a couple reasons....first: she's still a student and can't afford too many calling cards, second: in the city where she lives, it's kind of hard to find calling cards anyway, and those that she can find usually don't work well at all. Do you think this can cause the CIC to be suspicious, or at least think it's strange that I'm the one who calls?

Note: apart from phone calls, we communicate daily using emails and MSN Messenger, and we send snail mail letters and cards as well, once in a while. But I'm not too sure if these alone are enough if not accompanied with phone bills.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Boncuk]

I've seen a few members of this forum highlight the calling card number on their phone and photocopy a few cards to show them.  Again the reason why they don't except them is that technically you could be calling anyone. If you include those and the rest of your correspondence..email, chat logs, snail mail cards etc.. The point is to show an ongoing communication between the two of you.  The more you supply the better in my opinion. I also think most visa offices would understand price differences and call quality between countries.. I don't think you need to justify it :)

[mitamata]

I think putting a note in there explaining why you're using calling cards and such will be good. Even though the visa office already knows this.
Another idea is: can she get a list of incoming calls to her phone? Not all operators do this and I wonder what number would show up as the caller. But, if you supplied them with your phone bill, showing your calls with the phone card and her list of incoming calls, showing calls coming in at the same times... well, one and one makes two :)
Just an idea. Think about it.

Otherwise, you should be fine with the emails, MSN chat logs, letters and cards and anything else you'll find. You don't need to prove everything, just enough to show the relationship is real.

Oh, and there's no issues with only one party doing the calls. I call my husband every day, he almost never calls me and when he does he uses calling cards. I sent them my phone bills and nothing from my husband's side and that (along with other things like emails and many pages of Skype logs) was enough to get a visa with no issues.

Since you still have time to prepare your case, be sure to keep everything relating to your relationship. No need to send everything, but when the time comes, it's better to have too much than too little.

[AllisonChains08]

Don't worry, you have more proof of everyday conversation than I do. My boyfriend and I use an online voice chat system called Ventrilo to talk every night. It leaves no type of record or proof of anything so that kind of worries me :(.

[ftanired]

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the reponse! I'm seeing a lot of nice insights here =). Mitamata, your "one and one makes two" tip is brilliant, and certainly I will give it a try!

I have another dilemma now...when I'm sponsoring her, I will have visited her in Brazil for 3 or 4 times, whereas she will just have visited me probably only once or twice (she already came to visit me in Canada once so far; for 2 months).
Do you think this can cause a problem (I mean, the fact that she will have visited me for only once or twice. I don't want the CIC to think our relationship is not genuine, because it is)?

Thanks!

[smart_saqib143]

same problem with me we use here prepaid cards i use to sms my wife its connected with yahoo when i write sms it charge me and my wife gets message on yahoo messenger... thats the only way we use for sms..

we were not know chat archives can help we saved just last years chat untill we get to know its important rest of the years we didn't save.

hey guys love letters are good proof because dates on it and post office keep record if you want to show how long relationship is it will help, my wife writing me since 2004 and me too.

[mitamata]

If you're going to give it a try, I would suggest finding out if you can get the incoming calls now. Just for a month or two. If she's lucky enough to have an operator as retarded as mine, then they won't give her any records older than 3 months.

The visits should not be an issue. It would be great if she got to meet your family and you got a record of it - a pic at a family dinner perhaps? The fact that your family knows about the relationship is always a nice plus. If they come to the wedding, even better! But just the fact that she didn't get to visit you a lot isn't important.
My husband and I were in a long distance relationship as well, still are (till August). It's been almost 6 years now. I visited him twice, he came here three times - one visit a year. The longest visit was 5 weeks. Last time I went to Canada was almost 3 years ago. CIC had no problem with that.

[saralune]

could i suggest using skype for the future ??.. its cheap and keeps track of the call logs.

[ftanired]

The visits should not be an issue. It would be great if she got to meet your family and you got a record of it - a pic at a family dinner perhaps? The fact that your family knows about the relationship is always a nice plus. If they come to the wedding, even better! But just the fact that she didn't get to visit you a lot isn't important.

Wow.....it's quite comforting to know that many of you were/are in the same situations as me, and succeeded! I want to succeed too...hehehe..... =)

Yes thankfully we did have photos of us together when she was here in Canada.....I took at least 1700 photos, so I think that should be enough right??

About the wedding....you said if my parents come, that would be even better? Are you suggesting that provided I have good reasons, the CIC is okay if my parents don't attend the wedding?
I don't know yet how things will be, but there is a chance my parents might not be able to attend the wedding, considering it will happen in Brazil. What do you think?

[mitamata]

It's understandable that when the wedding is held far away, most of the family will not be able to attend. The only people from my husband's side that came to ours were his parents and sister. In many cases, there's no family from one side. I've heard many people say they will have the wedding in one country and then have another reception later in Canada for the other side of the family. If you'll plan anything like that, let CIC know.In any case, just include a note saying your family was unable to come due to financial reasons and it should be fine. Or you can have your parents write a letter stating that. I don't think you will have any problems because of it. But it would be nice if they could make it. Not just for CIC (they do like it when family is involved with the wedding), for you as well.

Oh, and a note on the calling cards... I found someone on another forum that contacted the phone card company and managed to get the list of calls that he made using their phone cards. Apparently, it's going to take a while and he can only order the records for 3 cards at a time, but it can be done. At least for the phone cards he's been using. There's another thing you can try! :)