Letters from friends and family

[awor]

I want to send in several letters from friends and family to show both sides support our marriage and life together, etc. I don't want to put words in anyone's head, but what should these letters include? Long and detailed or short and sweet? I don't want to annoy CIC with 10-15 very wordy letters of support - or is that what they like to see? And is 10-15 too many?

[CharlieD10]

I told my family members to just talk about what they know of our relationship, and about time they have spent with us together.  Everyone took that and ran with it, so we got everything from short two paragraph emails from friends, to a one-page letter from my mother, to a 3-page letter from one brother and his wife (we spend most of our time with them).

I told them to just write from the heart, and that's what they did.  For some people, it was short and sweet, for others it was detailed.

[canadianwoman]

I want to send in several letters from friends and family to show both sides support our marriage and life together, etc. I don't want to put words in anyone's head, but what should these letters include? Long and detailed or short and sweet? I don't want to annoy CIC with 10-15 very wordy letters of support - or is that what they like to see? And is 10-15 too many?

Give them guidelines, but don't be too specific. What you don't want is all the letters being too similar, because then the VO will suspect that you just wrote them yourselves. So a mix of some long, some short, is good, as is a mix of affidavits, letters, and emails.

[awor]

Perfect advice! Thank you both of you!

[asiddiq]

Also attach photos with them. Post marriage Family photos ( both sides) and relative Photos ( both sides) of their names those you mentioned in the application are very effective.

Cheers

[canadianwoman]

Also attach photos with them. Post marriage Family photos ( both sides) and relative Photos ( both sides) of their names those you mentioned in the application are very effective.

Yes, I agree. If you get a support letter from someone, try to include a phote of you and your spouse with this person in your photos. It's no big deal if you don't have one, but it does show you do actually know the person. At my husband's appeal the judge grilled me about the people who wrote the support letters - she suspected that I didn't actually know them.

[missmini]

I want to send in several letters from friends and family to show both sides support our marriage and life together, etc. I don't want to put words in anyone's head, but what should these letters include? Long and detailed or short and sweet? I don't want to annoy CIC with 10-15 very wordy letters of support - or is that what they like to see? And is 10-15 too many?

each of ur family/friends might know something different/special abt ur relationship; maybe with some u went to trips together, with others u would spend holidays/birthdays together, went to their wedding, they came to yours, others would visit u often or u'd visit them, others saw u together go through a harder moment of ur life; all these could show how strong and loving ur relationship is, and u could ask/guide them to write abt it (if they remember)

at the end u need to explain them for what the letter is and to keep it simple and on focus...since u r married and the letters r not mandatory for u, i think 10-15 is too much (they will take long time)...some people send 3-4 and for them they were mandatory (common-law) and it was fine...no matter how many u decide to send, make sure they r from both sides (sponsor and applicant)

also, u could send just a few letters and for the rest of family/close friends reference them in a table (name, contact, relationship, since when they know u); in case CIC needs more, they could contact them...for some members this worked fine too

good luck!