Sending Application for US Husband

[WinnipegGirl12]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are in the process of completing our application and are looking to send it in this month and were looking for some answers to questions we have!

Back story.. I attended a US college and met my husband. I lived there for a year after we met to finish up my schooling and then I moved back home. We've now been long distance for about 2 years, and just got married this July.

1) We currently only live about 3.5 hours apart so visit almost every weekend - do we need to include a separate sheet of paper and outline every single visit we've had throughout our relationship? (I also lived there for about a year so that would be hard to include)
2) We only lived in the same country during the early stages of our relationship so we never lived together - this means we don't have any rent agreements with both our names on it, etc. We are now living with our parents while I finish school and he pays back some loans - what would you suggest we use as proof of financial dependence, etc.?
3) I've read a few people suggest including a letter outlining your relationship - how did you title this/add it to a section?
4) Since I'm currently a student I don't have the income needed to support someone, but will be graduated and working by the time he moves here.. I'm under the impression I don't need to show financial support if I'm only sponsoring my spouse, but would love some more insight on this as that's currently my biggest fear.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as we're looking to finalize everything within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are in the process of completing our application and are looking to send it in this month and were looking for some answers to questions we have!

Back story.. I attended a US college and met my husband. I lived there for a year after we met to finish up my schooling and then I moved back home. We've now been long distance for about 2 years, and just got married this July.

1) We currently only live about 3.5 hours apart so visit almost every weekend - do we need to include a separate sheet of paper and outline every single visit we've had throughout our relationship? (I also lived there for about a year so that would be hard to include)
2) We only lived in the same country during the early stages of our relationship so we never lived together - this means we don't have any rent agreements with both our names on it, etc. We are now living with our parents while I finish school and he pays back some loans - what would you suggest we use as proof of financial dependence, etc.?
3) I've read a few people suggest including a letter outlining your relationship - how did you title this/add it to a section?
4) Since I'm currently a student I don't have the income needed to support someone, but will be graduated and working by the time he moves here.. I'm under the impression I don't need to show financial support if I'm only sponsoring my spouse, but would love some more insight on this as that's currently my biggest fear.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as we're looking to finalize everything within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks in advance!!

Welcome!

I haven't looked at the checklist (same checklist though) from a spousal living apart perspective (I applied common law) but it's the same options bar one or two things. So....

- If i remember correctly (i didn't use that section of the checklist) you have to mention your trips to visit each other if you are not living together. I would do an explanation sheet explaining what you said about visiting each other every weekend. You're driving so have no airline tickets etc, so explain that. If you have taken any trips/hotel stays within those visits include those receipts.

- Financial support is a tricky one for a lot of people because they don't necessarily need "support" from their other half, and that's ok. You can put an explanation sheet to that effect. Do you have any e-transfers you can show between you? Has one of you paid a vacation? Have you bought flight tickets etc for both of you or vice versa? But at the same time that option says you can show shared expenses also.. So did you pay for things for your wedding together, make any big purchases together that you have a receipt for? I can't remember the other two options in that section..can't you go with the other two instead because you do only need to pick from two sets, all three is just extra.

- I did a "love story" detailing our relationship. Sounds cheesy but I felt the circumstances of how we met needed explained better than the few lines worth of space they gave me on one of the forms. I titled it "Our story" and put it at the end of my application with a few additional pieces of evidence i thought were worth including my application. One of the forms asks if there is anything else you wish to share about your relationship..I asked them to refer to that extra section/story.

- Income/being a student isn't an issue for spousal/common law at all. As long as there has never been bankruptcy and you aren't receiving benefits/social assistance there's no problem. Give what they ask for in the checklist dependent on your circumstance.

The option to explain on a separate sheet of paper is there for a reason and don't be worried about doing that if you need to at any point in the application.

This forum is the best source of support, help and guidance there is so search and ask if you have any questions!