Relationship essay and red flags?

[amcpons]

Hi.
I understand normally everyone does an essay, timeline or explanation of relationship.
We both are planning to do one. On the applicants side they do ask more specific questions like how the relationship developed, etc.

So Im wondering, is there anything different than the sponsor should mention on essay? Do you suggest any comment about why he wants to sponsor, or opportunity to bring the applicant to canada? is there anything that should be different from the applicants essay or normally both are just about our relationship? would he mention anything like i would love the opportunity to sponsor my common law partner...

Also, i heard about some red flags and proof of commitment. In our case, we do have a 20 years age difference ( we never noticed it or care but apparently this could be a red flag for immigration???)
We never even considered having to explain our age difference...but will mentioning or saying that our age is not an issue would be necessary or will actually make the immigration officer consider it an issue? is it something we should do carefully or any suggestions of how should we approach this?

Finally, we dont have kids, we are not planning to have kids. When couples refer to their future plans...we saw almost in every example mentioning kids or the opportunity to have a family...is this something we should explain? in our future plans is it ok to not mention anything about that or is it something we should explain since not mentioning a family together might be consider red flag?

Maybe overthinking but it seems sometimes the lack to explain something or the overexplanation can make a difference on the application so we would love to hear any comments.
Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

I'll let others advise on what to include in the essay... but just for comparison in our common-law app neither of us included an essay. We just stuck to the lines provided right on the application to show our relationship progression and info, and were approved no problem.

So the essay is definitely not mandatory. It's completely up to you if you want to include it, as well as the format its in and what info you include. Nobody here can say for sure on the thinking of the visa officer that will be reading it, so there is really no right or wrong way to do it.

And the age thing would be more of an issue if it went against the culture of the applicant. i.e. if the wife was 20 yrs older than husband, and in that culture marrying older women was very rare, it could raise suspicions of the visa officer.

 

[amhel26]

Thanks Rob!
Just a question, if you didnt wrote an essay, on the part that says on an a separate sheet of paper include any details of your current relationship and proof that is genuine and continuing...did you add at the end of that applications a paper that referred them to the proof of relationship folder?

I saw here that some people do the essay and attach it to that application and at the end of essay mention that the proof of relationship is on the 3rd folder...was it necessary for you to mention this at all?

can i ask you through what country did you applied? thank you soo much for your help!!

 

[scylla]

My husband is American and we included a letter. There's a 16 year age gap between us (I'm the younger one) and we called this out in the letter very briefly. We never planned to have kids and made no mention of this in our letter. My husband was approved in just over four months (total processing time).

 

[MissRepresentation]

Finally, we dont have kids, we are not planning to have kids. When couples refer to their future plans...we saw almost in every example mentioning kids or the opportunity to have a family...is this something we should explain? in our future plans is it ok to not mention anything about that or is it something we should explain since not mentioning a family together might be consider red flag?

My husband and I never want to have kids either and have taken every step to make sure that 'accidents' will not happen. We did mention this in both our letters saying that the fact that we're in total agreement on the kids issue is one of the things that brought us together. We feel that our 'family' is complete with just the two of us and our childfree lifestyle is one of the strongest aspects in our relationship. So yes, I'd definitely mention it if I were you, just use the opportunity to explain your views and link it back to how this strengthens your relationship.

 

[Rob_TO]

Just a question, if you didnt wrote an essay, on the part that says on an a separate sheet of paper include any details of your current relationship and proof that is genuine and continuing...did you add at the end of that applications a paper that referred them to the proof of relationship folder?

We just referenced to our general "proof of relationship/common-law" section of the application, which included things like photos, testimonial letter from my mom, joint finances, cohabitation proof, tickets for an upcoming trip we were taking, etc etc. If we were going to do an essay, we just would have included it in this section.

can i ask you through what country did you applied? thank you soo much for your help!!

We applied through the Korean visa office, which has since been shut down and transferred to Manila for Korean applicants.

 

[Kayaker]

Well, if you think your application might have possible red flags (big age gap, huge difference in background and/or education, religion, short courtship, etc.) the essay is your opportunity to alleviate CIC's concerns.

We both wrote essays (my husband's was about 2 pages, mine about 10) because we wanted to make sure we had everything right. (our possible red flag was short time between first meeting and marriage (6 months) so we both made sure to lay out our reasoning behind that decision.)

I do think as with everything else, it's quality over quantity, so don't feel you have to write anything long. I also think the essay is a chance to put a more emotional and human face on an otherwise dry and bureaucratic application, a chance for the CIC employee processing your application to see you as two human beings in love, not just a case.

 

[amhel26]

Everyone is so helpful i love this forum! Thank you!!!!

 

[canadianwoman]

If it is the man who is 20 years younger, I would both address the age difference and talk about children. You should say you have discussed this issue and have agreed you don't want kids (or whatever your situation is).

 

[mcbeth]

I met my Russian wife online in April 2013, we met in Kiev in July 2013 (before all hell broke loose!), and were married in Barbados in October 2013. Neither of us wrote an essay for CIC, I sent only a handful of photos (9-10 tops), and some random and scattered evidence of our time together. Our answers to the questions were very short, fitting within the confines of the space given on each page, and about the only thing I added from family in this whole thing was the telegram my mom sent us when we got to Barbados, other than that neither one fo us has met each other family in the flesh.

I was approved as her sponsor 1 day after they started processing our application! Make sure what you send is quality and you should have no trouble at all. Our whole application, for sponsorship and PR, fit in one prepaid Canada Post shipping envelope, so sending a large box of evidence isn't really neccessary as far as I'm concerned.

 

[msingh2013]

I never wrote an essay for my application. No where in the form does it indicate that an essay is needed. They are just asking for more proof to prove that the relationship is genuine. I included wedding cards and around 150 to 200 photographs that were labelled on the back of each with date, names of individuals and what function/where the picture was taken.

 

[SuiGeneris]

I met my Russian wife online in April 2013, we met in Kiev in July 2013 (before all hell broke loose!), and were married in Barbados in October 2013. Neither of us wrote an essay for CIC, I sent only a handful of photos (9-10 tops), and some random and scattered evidence of our time together. Our answers to the questions were very short, fitting within the confines of the space given on each page, and about the only thing I added from family in this whole thing was the telegram my mom sent us when we got to Barbados, other than that neither one fo us has met each other family in the flesh.

I was approved as her sponsor 1 day after they started processing our application! Make sure what you send is quality and you should have no trouble at all. Our whole application, for sponsorship and PR, fit in one prepaid Canada Post shipping envelope, so sending a large box of evidence isn't really neccessary as far as I'm concerned.

Wow. Amazing.

 

[gsize]

We had an essay......it took 5 years to get him to Canada from Mexico. Easy application just lots of incompetence.