Photos as evidence

[tinytortoise]

Hi guys!

I'm putting together our genuine relationship evidence. As of right now I have the photos organized this way:

On PDFs (will be printed in color)
Timeframe of trip (example: January 23-30, 2011)
Where photos were taken (example: Venice, Italy)
Highlights: (example: Won trip to Venice, fiances birthday, dinner with {my names} friends: John and Jane Doe

Is that ok? Should I just have the photos printed out and label each one? I thought this would be easier to show the story of the photos/trips.

I know this has been asked a million times but when I did a search all that came up were passport photo info.

thanks!

 

[hogaishaadi]

hello...

idea is to make it as easy for them to understand your case... make your photos in chronological manner... as in how events unfolded... pics from the earliest to the latest... you could do pdf's but i think its best to do prints as it shows or hints that you value the relationship (its a hidden intangible that could be viewed as such)...

what i did personally was... printed about close to 75-80 photographs, of us in different places, events, just us, with family members, with friends etc... don't send similar photos or with the same group of ppl (unless say ur parents are repeating in photos with you in dif events and/or with other friends/family)...

On the back of a photo write Event, location, date, who took it, who is in it names and relation (its hectic but good) and sometimes you can write down about a photo a little on why it may be of significance or important or what was happening... for example, "in this photo taken by my cousin (Brad Pitt) my uncle (Barrack Obama) is gifting me a ring and i am so excited, where as my wife (Angelina Jolie) has this smirk on her face because she got one triple the size of mine, poor me"

don't be afraid to show your emotions/feelings within the photos, be funny... it may not get read, but it shows how much it means to you... please keep the writing neat and readable, and don't smudge it, and keep the photos you sent, within another folder or a second copy of them, in case they lose them and/or request again the same batch... if they later on request more (photos showing your relationship as continuing from when you sent in your file to the date you got the letter of request or when you mailing it back to them) do the same for the newer batch...

send the photos loose in an envelope (best not sealed, but can be placed within the full package in a manner they dont spill)... print the photos in the simple/basic print... getting those borders/cute with pictures style or after editing wont help...

hope this helps...

 

[Isometry]

That sounds pretty good, actually. With a PDF or word document you can put a couple pictures per page, too.

When you talk about the highlights of the trip, is that a general explanation (per trip) or a specific explanation (per photo)? I'd do it per photo if you're not already.

 

[hogaishaadi]

per photo.... but before writing think up in your head what you gona write, how you gona write... will it fit... etc... if say its you and spouse, with loads of relatives/friends in background, then only describe 3-5 main ones that you want to focus their attn towards...whoever those might be in the photo...

for example...

Wedding (Albastor's Banquet Hall)
Paris, France
Feb 14, 2009
From Left to Right:
Jim: My father
Myself
Angelina: My wife
Jane: My mother

Pic taken by hired photographer/sister (Betty)

This picture was taken right after the vows of me and my wife along with my parents...with all the family and friends in the background...

 

[mameelynn]

We both wrote a letter as our main proof of relationship about how we met and how our relationship formed and how we keep it strong. We then went through our e-mails and printed screen shots and picked out a few to print out in full and we also printed out copies of tickets and travel plans. Then we went through all of our photo's and printed out them and put them in chronological order from oldest to newest (we used almost all of the same photo's for my letter as the sponsor and as my husbands as the person being sponsored) and I typed up who,when and where for each photo and then taped them all onto blank paper so we could put 2-3 photo's and info per page because it was cheeper to print out 4x6 photo's then the cost for all the ink to print them with a home printer. We sent in our package and got it sent back because there were two forms missing some info and it was interesting to see how they had looked through all of our proof of relationship (we have fixed the issues, put it all back in chronological order and re-sent in out paperwork and are now waiting for our approval)

 

[hogaishaadi]

in my cover letter i did explain our relationship as well, and highlighted the main events (same within the forms) and always directed them to look at photos marked "Wedding" "Reception" "Honeymoon" "Dinners" "Travel" etc... and i recommend doing the same thing for your whole application too... just like the photos, make that into a chronological order... start off with the cover letter up top... then with the sponsor's checklist...and the sponsors forms in their particular order as on the checklist, (along with any additional pages required for those forms, photos keep just for end)... then go on to the applicant's section and place their forms in the same order as per on the checklist (same used for the sponsor)... now you will get to the country related package/forms for sponsor, put them in order, followed by the rest of documents required on the original checklist, pcc, medical, etc... then put in all the supporting documents for the genuineness of the relationship, certificates, education, etc.. then put all the communication evidence for the genuineness of the relationship, emails, call logs, chats, sms, social media (facebook/twitter, etc), and photos...

makes it easy for the vo viewing your file and referencing back and forth... no amount of evidence is enough, but make sure its relevant + isn't repetitive... for example, affidavits of people are not accepted so irrelevant, or calling cards with no call logs are irrelevant, or dont send photos that were taken in one go/shoot of the same group of ppl...