Letters from friends and family

[gwendave]

I searched for this info before posting, and didn't find what I needed, so please excuse me if this is a repetitive question.

I'm having my sister and a good friend write letters attesting to our relationship being genuine and I need a little advice, please. (My situation is my CL boyfriend is a Canadian citizen who is sponsoring me and my children. He is currently in BC and me in California)

I'm not really sure what immigration is looking for in these types of letters. My sister lives across the country in New York, but I spoke of him from the start of the relationship, and she met him when she came to visit at Christmas a few years ago, and again on a summer visit. The friend I have has witnessed him picking up my children from school when he was here, and also was one of the people who knew of him from the start. We have also had dinner together with her and her children.

Any advice would be appreciated. Also, these letters do not need to be notarized, correct? Just contact info for the writer?

[Suin]

hello,
we had letters written by our relatives witnessing our relationship and expressing the way they watched our relationship developing and how emotionally connected to each other we are. Those letters included their addresses and contact details an aslo their signature was witnessed and notarized by notary public.
Have a good luck!

[whoopi83]

I searched for this info before posting, and didn't find what I needed, so please excuse me if this is a repetitive question.

I'm having my sister and a good friend write letters attesting to our relationship being genuine and I need a little advice, please. (My situation is my CL boyfriend is a Canadian citizen who is sponsoring me and my children. He is currently in BC and me in California)

I'm not really sure what immigration is looking for in these types of letters. My sister lives across the country in New York, but I spoke of him from the start of the relationship, and she met him when she came to visit at Christmas a few years ago, and again on a summer visit. The friend I have has witnessed him picking up my children from school when he was here, and also was one of the people who knew of him from the start. We have also had dinner together with her and her children.

Any advice would be appreciated. Also, these letters do not need to be notarized, correct? Just contact info for the writer?

Hi

We have done the CL route too and included letters from family just detailing what they knew and what they believed.  We pretty much let them write whatever they chose to.  Ensure they have contact details and from what I recall the checklist for outland suggests that two letters should be notarized.  It wouldn't hurt your case to have this done.

I also saw that you are in Cali and b/f is in BC.  As common law you must have cohabited for 12 continuous months and that must be continuing throughout the application.  Do you both "reside" together and have evidence that you have combined your affairs, such as finances, lease/mortgages etc?  Just thought I'd ask the question whilst you're putting your application together.

Also, don't get confused over the financial evaluation or sponsorship evaluation forms, your b/f will need the sponsor evaluation.  The financial evaluation would only be needed if he was sponsoring parents, or if your dependent children had dependent children of their own.
You also do not need the statutory declaration of common law union form as this applies only if b/f has a co-signer which he can't have because you are his common law partner and not yet a PR or citizen.  Hope that makes sense but thought I'd mention it as it is a very common couple of questions.

[gwendave]

Thank you for your response. I'm confused all over again now though. =P

My bf lived down here with me and my children for two years. When his job came to an end here we decided together that taking one in BC would be the best thing because that is where we knew we wanted to be, and truthfully it was the best job offer. I have had to wait down here though because I have children from a previous marriage and only now obtained their father's permission to take them with me up to Canada. That has been the single factor keeping us from living in the same home, but he has continued to be a major financial support during the time he has been gone, and we do have proof of that.

[Suin]

hello,
what is your confusion about? there should be no problem in your application. think positive. :)