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How much documentation did you provide? How much is too much?

ufa

ufa

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Nov 25, 2010
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Is there such a thing as too much documentation?

I started printing off email records and phone card receipts and txt message logs last night and found i already have a stack of papers 2 inches high.

It reminded me of a previous experience I had with the US immigration: My dad is American and a few years ago I went through the process of declaring dual citizenship. I had to prove to the American embassy that my father lived in the states for a sufficient amount of time. Luckily, my dad never throws anything out, so we found certificates from graduating from nursery school all the way to up to pay stubs from summer jobs while in college. I ended up again, with a stack of papers about 4 inches high, and lugged it over to the embassy. They took one look and said no - come back with just 3 things!

Will the CIC do the same thing? Is it better just to show a few samples of emails and txt logs rather than the whole pile?

Also - if i include everything - should it all go in a binder? How best to organize the thing?

I guess the call out is for spousal sponsorships:
  • how much documentation - in weight / inches / number of pages
  • how did you organize it? and,
  • any impression on how it was received? (i.e. have you been successful or still waiting, or STILL waiting?)
 
Hi ufa,

This is what my spouse and I included with our application:

->We documented the date/times/locations where we've met, and created tables of everyone on both sides of the family, including friends, whom we've had contact with, and when. I have none of the original boarding passes. I did have all the flight receipts, however. We made photocopies of our passports, showing the stamps we've received coming and going.

->We had well over 100 people in attendance at the wedding and reception, and included a few pictures copied into a Word document and printed out. We've included our marriage license, our marriage program (for the ceremony), bills from the reception hall, etc.

->We received 10 handwritten letters of support for us and our relationship, mostly from our friends (families are a bit more biased, obviously, so I figured friends would be more neutral.)

->Our additional evidence included flight receipts, phone bill logs, pictures from places we've gone/been, letters of support, bank information for our joint account, our premarital counseling summary, pictures of things we've bought for each other (e.g. rings, a laptop I bought for her to Skype with, etc), cards we've mailed each other, letters we've written each other, her Facebook wall for the last year (printed on 70 pages!) where she has constantly talked about our relationship in front of her 100+ Facebook friends, etc. We have no chat logs from conversations, as we mostly Skype.
 
Hi Ufa

I think really there is no such thing as too much in this case. But, if you are feeling like you really have TONS of evidence I would suggest you include some of everything. For example, my partner's phone bill is about 20 pages every month. Instead of submitting 20 pages for every month we've been together (3 years) we just included one bill from the beginning of our relationship, one from the middle and one recent (with my number highlighted). I had my salary deposited into his account so I pulled one old and one recent bank statement showing that but not every bank statement. Same applies to photos - we submitted over 100 compiled onto about 15 pages. But if you choose to go this route - choose carefully! And don't worry about going to minimal.

As long as your documentation is well organized, the IO can skim through and look at what they want to look at. I had the supporting document divided up by categories of what they were evidence for (we're common law living outside of Canada so had to prove that I'm moving back to Canada and co-habitation as well) and then had a detailed index at the beginning. Makes it easy for the IO to find what they want to look at and ignore anything else.

They ask that you not put anything in a binder. The best idea I've heard is to use rubber bands for each section. I think they want you to avoid anything with metal for security reasons.
 
When it comes to CIC it is really hard to say what's the right amount of documents to be sent.

I have seen case of people sending only few things and getting approved as well as I have seen those who sent heavy packages full of information and unfortunately are called for an in depth investigation...

If you do have too much stuff and think they are essential or/and really important to prove your relationship I would advise you to send them .

Good luck! :)
 
On a related note:

How many copies of the documentation are you sending? I have found 3 places in 3 different forms where they want proof of our relationship.

There first is in the IMM 5490 where they want proof of our common law relationship (lease, bank accounts and so on) as well as trips and activities done together

The next is in IMM 5540 where it says "On a separate sheet of paper provide any additional details of your current relationship that you believe would help to prove your relationship is genuine and continuing".

Finally in my partners region specific form it says "If you are being sponsored by your spouse of common law partner you must send evidence of the relationship between you and your partner" follow by a list of 'evidence'

Obviously the package of evidence we gathered (photos, visas, tickets, join bank accounts, entry and exit stamps from travelling together, joint lease, joint utility bills, emails, letters between us, letters addresses to us at the same address, ID cards with the same address, details of the history of our relationship, letters from friends and family about our relationship and so on) can be use in all three sections. Do we only include it once saying please refer to the section submitted with his region specific form, or should we include 3 copies of everything and basically insert identical packages in each appropriate section.

Thanks for your thoughts
 
I included those things only once and said "please refer to page x." I numbered all the material I submitted so I could cross-reference in these instances. However, perhaps they re-arrange things in their own order and my cross referencing efforts were in vain, but I tried to keep things in order according to the checklists so information would be easy to find.
 
I wish more people would post to this thread http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/post-pics-of-your-application-package-here-t51373.0.html

as it provides some insight into what others (myself included) sent. Our application was a total of 280 pages (double sided) and we included almost everything we have. We left out a lot of pictures though and instead (as per the advice of our lawyer) focused the pictures on ones that included our families to show. We also wrote up some small notes that explained things that may have been points of confusion for the person reviewing the application(ie. I had a phone number with a different area code for a long time when my spouse and I were living together). Just try to include as much as you think they'd like to see but make sure that it is all very well organized and clearly laid out. Try your best to identify any points of confusion you think could come up and clear them up before you send. Having them ask for more documentation will hold up the whole process quite a bit from what I understand.
 
In the original inland PR application we sent 60 photos(relationship & wedding), birth certificate of our canadian daughter, marriage certificate and a letter explaining our 5 year story...then looking at this forum i thought that it was better to send more info so a month ago we sent additional info(without being asked for) and proofs of our genuine relationship, such as notary papers of a house bought on both our names, car papers that state that the car is on both our names, a letter from the father of my canadian wife talking about our relationship and a bell phone contract on both our names...Hope that helps!!
 
waitingintz said:
Hi Ufa

I think really there is no such thing as too much in this case. But, if you are feeling like you really have TONS of evidence I would suggest you include some of everything. For example, my partner's phone bill is about 20 pages every month. Instead of submitting 20 pages for every month we've been together (3 years) we just included one bill from the beginning of our relationship, one from the middle and one recent (with my number highlighted). I had my salary deposited into his account so I pulled one old and one recent bank statement showing that but not every bank statement. Same applies to photos - we submitted over 100 compiled onto about 15 pages. But if you choose to go this route - choose carefully! And don't worry about going to minimal.

As long as your documentation is well organized, the IO can skim through and look at what they want to look at. I had the supporting document divided up by categories of what they were evidence for (we're common law living outside of Canada so had to prove that I'm moving back to Canada and co-habitation as well) and then had a detailed index at the beginning. Makes it easy for the IO to find what they want to look at and ignore anything else.

They ask that you not put anything in a binder. The best idea I've heard is to use rubber bands for each section. I think they want you to avoid anything with metal for security reasons.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I did too... Included a bit of everything, samplings from beginning, middle and "end".. Explain that you are doing this, and offer to include the whole gambit if they request... Organize everything the best you can, present it the best you can... I used alligator clips (with metal, had no issue) header pages which explained contents... Had a main TOC and lots of labeled sectioning tabs... I printed on high end paper, in colour (killed lots of trees and it weighed more, but it's visually more appealling and more durable to last the process :) ) I think if you put as much thought into HOW you present it, what you present can be received in the best possible light by the IO... Make their job easy and they will likely return the favour :)

Make sure your evidence is strong, there are no obvious gaps in any timelines, that you've answered all questions completely, directly and honestly, in as concise a manner as possible. Don't overexplain things and keep the language professional and polished... These things considered, a 30 page application can be just as strong as a 300 page application...



Good luck
 
well said, chelley
 
Oh and keep your sanity in mind! If you are going to stress out for the next 10 months about the five photos you decided not to include but maybe you should have... it's just not worth it. Send in enough evidence to make you feel confident that you have represented your relationship well to a total stranger. It's no fun sitting around for months after wondering if you should have included that extra letter, email, card, whatever.
 
Thanks for all the input - and that reference to the other thread with pictures of people's applications is great - i'll put mine up whenever I get it all together...

I have a few short video clips that would be great evidence. How should I include them? (Since they say not to included CDs or DVDs...)
 
If it says not to include CD's or DVD's then I wouldn't include them. Most of the time they would be thrown out or not looked at.
I wish we could send them in but oh well. Also, my application was about 424 pages. Would have been thinner if we had double sided the copies. Here is a sampling of what I did but don't worry I am sure some of it isn't needed so it isn't a have to go by thing. Just thought you could use some suggestions for things you may have forgotten or thought weren't important. Good luck.

Here is the link to the thread I posted in: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/inland-sponsorship-supporting-documents-list-t47731.0.html;msg352783#msg352783
 
Love_young is right. However, when i recently went in for my interview, they didnt even need any more photographs. i sent in about 10 photos or less. cant even remember but they werent that much.After i got my file transferred to my local office, i gathered about 200 photos in preparation to send them but the IO wa satisfied with the ten i sent her i guess. She was more interested in asking us questions she was mostly interested in home ownership stuff, car ownership. really it depends on your personal situation.

If you are newly weds or common law, you shouldconvince them that your marriage is genuine etc and its up to you to use that discretion.

Ive been married for 8 years but we didnt send much evidence because we assumed that if they aw wed been married for that long it automatically worked in our favour

i thin k every relationship is different but ive learnt that with CIC. More is always more!. the more the better!..
 
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