Additional Details to Prove Relationship

[agarand8]

Hello hello,

Been on here a few weeks now getting my application ready. Mostly have it done but I just watched an instructional video that I found in the link in Heppsters signature to fill out the sponsor questionnaire form. The video points out that little note at the bottom of a few different forms that says "please provide any additional information that you think would help to show that your relationship in genuine and ongoing" and of course this is the most important part BUT I am already sending a butt tonne of information that will prove this in with the principal applicants forms. Do the people that approve the sponsorship applications look through the papers for the immigrant as well, or do I need to provide even more proof and paperwork?

Also, I am applying as a Canadian citizen living exclusively outside of Canada, and in this video tutorial it suggests that I should write a lengthy one or two page letter that outlines why we can no longer live where we are living and how we will get established in Canada, etc. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this and if it is necessary. Really it is not that we can't live in Costa Rica but more that we don't want to, and for my proof that I will return I have an offer of employment from a previous employer showing a salary of over $30,000 a year, a letter from my mother offering to provide housing while we get settled, a letter from my grandma telling them to process my application fast lol and just saying that she knows our plans and cant wait to meet my husband, and a letter from my grandpa that will offer my husband a job working for him upon arrival. I was kind of thinking that this was more than enough, but I could be wrong. If someone could let me know their experiences I would appreciate it.

Thanks all. I am really enjoying my time reading and chatting with you all on this forum.

 

[truesmile]

That's the "first" I have read anything on this forum that anyone has to, or has been suggested that they have to 'explain why they can no longer live where they are living'. You as a Canadian citizen has the right to choose to return to, and live in Canada (along with your family, barring the necessary paperwork ie sponsorship application).

 

[QuebecOkie]

We didn't include anything extra in the sponsorship app as proof of our relationship, just what was in the principal applicant's section of the PR app. For that part, I included a document for "additional proof." Included 8 photos of us together, including one of us with his whole family. Wrote out captions for the photos with information on where/when each was taken, and noted "itinerary attached" for the two photos from two of our vacations abroad.

Yes, for an outland application where the Canadian spouse is currently living abroad, you do have to provide proof of your intent to return to Canada. Sounds like you have great proof of this, with two job offers and letters from family expressing knowledge of and excitement about your return and offering living accommodations. Sounds like you're in great shape!

 

[agarand8]

Thanks guys!

Also wondering how normal it is for the principal applicant to not speak english. My husband only knows maybe 10 phrases and 20 or so words besides and for this reason I have filled out all of his paperwork, not him. I don't have extra money to throw at an interpreter not to mention that I'd be horribly afraid that he would miss something. I am a bit of a control freak, but thats not the point, the point is he doesn't speak english, and so the interpreter declaration would be me. Is that frowned on, or a red flag or anything? I find it hard to believe that I'm the first wife to fill out all of the husbands paperwork, but who knows. lol

 

[QuebecOkie]

I'm the principal applicant, with my Canadian husband sponsoring me. ALLLLLL he did, for the whole process, was hand me a credit card to pay fees, and sign on the lines that I told him to sign. He's allergic to administrative tasks and paperwork, haha. I filled out everything, I wrote up the document providing "proof" of our relationship, I did it all.

I can't say if that's normal or not, or if it's something that concerns CIC (I know I've read on here that a good many people had both the sponsor and applicant write out statements about their relationship for "proof"). All I can say for sure is that, for us, it worked out fine.

I'm not finding anything on the CIC website about language requirements for PR under spousal sponsorship (there are language proficiency requirements, I see, for Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Worker class, but can't find anything about family class). Not saying I'm sure there are no issues there, just that I wasn't able to find anything about it.

 

[agarand8]

Thats hilarious I knew I wasnt the only one. Just curious, even though you filled out the forms... particularly for the spousal sponsor questionnaire, did you fill them out from his perspective? I did because I knew that he was supposed to fill out his forms, it was weird to write about myself from another persons perspective. lol

 

[QuebecOkie]

Yes, I filled them out as he would have if he wasn't allergic to administration. He was either here with me or we would skype (he's military, so he was gone for 4.5 of the first 5 months I was here in Québec) to make sure we were on the same page about answers or whatnot. He helped verbally, I just did all the actual stuff on the forms.

Also, just FYI, there are English and French courses available for immigrants. I'm (obviously!) fluent in English, haha, but I plan to take Québec's French courses. I only have Québec's info bookmarked, but if you tell me what province you are in, I can dig up info on their language courses. I'm not sure *all* provinces offer classes, but I know Ontario, Alberta, and Québec do. Not saying your husband HAS to learn English, of course, but it would likely make life easier and better for him if he's able to speak the language of the land, wherever you are.

 

[agarand8]

hahaha that would be great! We will be living in Regina, Saskatchewan. Which is probably so hick that they dont have anything like that, but they are the capital of the province, so maybe they will.

I also went over the answers with my husband verbally, he complained about how extremely detailed the answers were not to mention long, and after that I went through the form and adjusted all the answers to try to make them more how he would answer things. I plan to go over the form with him again once more before we send the application in. I'm nervous about a potential interview since our application gets forwarded to Mexico City which I hear almost always asks for interviews, and my husband pointed out to me that if they asked him about some of the stuff that I was putting down, there would be no way he would remember. lol

 

[QuebecOkie]

Looks like there are some English courses available in Regina. http://www.saskimmigrationcanada.ca/learning-english The website isn't great, but it's at least a starting point to find more information. One of my new friends is from Regina. (Yes, I'm in a very insular, Francophone area of Northern Québec, but I meet people from all over, since we're here because of the military base.) Sweet girl!

And yes, you'll definitely want to go over the forms with him, make sure that everything is answered as he would answer it. You don't want any surprises if you have to go in for an interview! Good luck with that. I hope he's more cooperative than my husband! I love my husband dearly, and he's a great partner, but his eyes glaze over the moment we sit down to do any administrative tasks together. It's one of my (many!) reasons for wanting to become bilingual. I can't wait until I can do all of our personal administrative tasks, even in French. Recently, I was able to order a pizza by phone (the phone is still pretty scary for me in French), so that's one less thing he has to do for our household, haha! (Yep, he hates the phone, too.)

 

[Betina]

hahaha that would be great! We will be living in Regina, Saskatchewan. Which is probably so hick that they dont have anything like that, but they are the capital of the province, so maybe they will.

I also went over the answers with my husband verbally, he complained about how extremely detailed the answers were not to mention long, and after that I went through the form and adjusted all the answers to try to make them more how he would answer things. I plan to go over the form with him again once more before we send the application in. I'm nervous about a potential interview since our application gets forwarded to Mexico City which I hear almost always asks for interviews, and my husband pointed out to me that if they asked him about some of the stuff that I was putting down, there would be no way he would remember. lol

Be very careful about how and what you write in your husbands forms. Even if the interview is waived during the processing of the application, there will be an interview when you land. In both interviews they will ask him details about information given in the forms, so he needs to know exactly what they are.

 

[agarand8]

I know how you feel. I have to do everything, even in Spanish. It's a little easier though because down here everything is so incredibly basic, we get paid in cash, we pay all of our bills in cash, the cell phones are all prepaid and you reload them at the grocery stores. I'm lucky in that way.

You mentioned earlier that you wrote a document providing proof of your relationship. By that did you just mean that you were the one that filled out the spousal sponsor questionnaire, or did you actually create a whole separate document? If you did make a separate document, was it mainly a summary of everything that you provided in one convenient letter, or a letter professing your love, or...?

Yeah thanks Betina, my husband stresses out big time at the thought of doing anything even remotely out of our ordinary routine. You should have seen him trying to plan my birthday party last week, you would have thought Madonna was going to show up or something. Anyways, I plan to go over it with him before we send it in and then if we are required an interview we will be going over the photocopy that I will keep probably every day beforehand because THAT is literally how nervous he gets. And when we actually get to the landing part he is probably going to need drugs to keep his blood pressure down and alcohol to keep him relaxed. lol He's only ever been on a plane once. So I am looking forward to that day, but at the same time it's probably not going to be a good day until we walk out of the airport.

 

[QuebecOkie]

Inland and outland applications have slightly different forms. I applied inland, and form IMM 5285 is the "Spouse/Common-Law Questionnaire." It asks when you met your spouse, if you're living together, if your family knows about the relationship, if you have traveled together, if you were previously married, and etc. The last item states, "On an separate sheet of paper, provide any additional details that you believe would help prove your relationship is genuine and ongoing."

So I made a word document (with my name as a running header and IMM 5285 as the running footer). It read sort of like a timeline/story of our relationship, and included 8 photos. "(Husband) and I first traveled together when we vacation at a resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in November 2010. Here is a photo of us preparing to go parasailing. (Itinerary attached.)" Then there was a colour photo of us sitting on the parasailing bench seat thingy together. There are two more vacation pics, with similiar descriptions. Then things like, "(Husband) first met my family when he accompanied me to (U.S.) Thanksgiving dinner in November 2010. Here he is tending the deep fryer on my parent's rural acerage." Then the photo of my husband in an apron and tuque deep frying turkey. "I first met (in-laws) when they were in San Antonio, TX, for a conference. Here are (husband and me) from our visit to the Alamo." This went on for the rest of the photos. A little bit of our history together, then a photo that goes with that history. One photo from our wedding, and then an explanation of why we had a very small, informal courthouse ceremony, and an explanation for why only three friends and no family were in attendance. (We didn't really care about a wedding, plus he'd *just* returned from deployment and was being posted out of my state within a few months. Didn't want the expense/stress of a wedding on top of the rest of it.)

Then, the last paragraph is:

In the instructions on form IMM 5285, it states that I should share any additional details that prove that my relationship with (husband) is genuine and continuing. I think my current situation illustrates the depth of my love for and commitment to my husband. I'm an American living in the Saguenay. I left my home and all of my family and friends for a strange life as a military spouse in a land where I now have to struggle to learn French. This is a beautiful region, but daily life is often a challenge as I take French courses and work to adjust to a very different culture and language. If I was not fully dedicated to my husband, I would not have attempted to make a new life in a land so different from my own. When he got posted to CFB Bagotville, I only had two choices. Follow him, learn French, and learn to love the new land where I live, or let the love of my life walk away from me. So really, I had no choice at all.

For people who aren't given to great depths of emotional expression, that was VERY much me professing my love for my husband. It was also stating that there was no economic benefit to me coming to Canada, I did it only for love.

So there was that document, which was four pages including the photos placed within the document, and then three travel itineraries (two showing us traveling together on vacations, one showing me traveling alone to the location where he was deployed at the time). That was all the "proof" I included, though many others include a lot of other stuff. Joint bank account statements, copies of leases/mortgages in both their names, phone/chat/video chat logs, etc. I actually stressed that I didn't include enough proof, but for a U.S./Canadian couple, when it's easy to explain how we met and came to be in a real relationship (he lived in my state for four years), when there were no red flags, I don't think we were scrutinized terribly closely.

 

[agarand8]

Wow ok, thats really beautiful what you wrote. I have included a lot lot lot of proof including 16 pages of Skype call history from the time that we werent together, and 200 photos (which I've already been told is way too many but I already had them printed and would have no idea what to cut out and what to keep) just to give you an idea. I also included things like a copy of a really heartfelt speech that I made at our wedding, western union receipts, hotel receipts for the honeymoon, I feel like they should have no reason to doubt us and I hope it really goes smoothly. I wish I would have started the paperwork earlier though after finding out about this strike. We were married in May so I could have easily had everything mailed in by the beginning of july but it isnt going to be in now until first week of october probably and I am anticipating that the strike is going to cause enough delays that its going to be over a year for a response. I was really hoping to be in Canada by next Christmas because I was seeing that lots of peoples applications before the strike (out of Mexico) were only taking 9 or 10 months, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen.

 

[QuebecOkie]

Wow ok, thats really beautiful what you wrote. I have included a lot lot lot of proof including 16 pages of Skype call history from the time that we werent together, and 200 photos (which I've already been told is way too many but I already had them printed and would have no idea what to cut out and what to keep) just to give you an idea. I also included things like a copy of a really heartfelt speech that I made at our wedding, western union receipts, hotel receipts for the honeymoon, I feel like they should have no reason to doubt us and I hope it really goes smoothly. I wish I would have started the paperwork earlier though after finding out about this strike. We were married in May so I could have easily had everything mailed in by the beginning of july but it isnt going to be in now until first week of october probably and I am anticipating that the strike is going to cause enough delays that its going to be over a year for a response. I was really hoping to be in Canada by next Christmas because I was seeing that lots of peoples applications before the strike (out of Mexico) were only taking 9 or 10 months, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen.

Don't you just KICK yourself for not starting at the earliest possible moment?!? We were married in April in the U.S. (2012), and we could have started an outland (from US, generally faster than inland) app at that time. It would be over now. But we didn't. We started the process in August, after the move, misunderstood some stuff based on Québec's confusing instructions (only sent sponsorship app, not the PR part), and so only had our app "received" as of October 23. I miss my family terribly, and have missed out on over half of my only nephew's young life (he turned two last Thursday; he was 10 months the last time I saw him). But...we live and we learn! And the hubby and I got very lucky. We were over 10 months in with no AIP (first stage approval, which we had expected to receive in March or April), but THEN, we got stage one and two approval on the same day last month. The end is in sight for us, and we couldn't be happier.

We're also lucky in that just about every single day, we're reminded, through laughter and smiles, that we made the only choice we could. He "threatens violence" (we carpool some now that I'm in a French course on base, and he threatens to beat my legs or stop the car and make me get out and walk, possibly because when he's grumpy in the car, I sing the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs song - Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go - and I try to get him to do the whistling part), but we have sooooo much fun together, just doing nothing, just living daily life. It's been a stressful journey, but it's WORTH it. And the immigration stuff isn't eternal, even when it feels like it.

I think you have MORE than enough proof. As for paring down photos, my thought is to not send many/any duplicates. After the third photo of a wedding, a fourth adds nothing new to the visual story you're painting for CIC. Like I said, I sent 8, from different trips/time in our relationship. I highly doubt you're leaving any room for questioning whether you're in a "real" relationship or not, haha.