Preparation?

[cheryl112]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian Citizen. My fiance is a Hong Kong Citizen and he's been here for 4 years on a study permit. We've been together for 2 1/2 years and have lived together for a year and a 1/2 of that.

My question is. He proposed on our 2 year anniversary and I am wondering if there is anything I should start getting records of for future reference. We live together but my legal address is still my mom's house for convenience (We're in a basement suite and sometimes it takes days to get his mail... I can't have that.). We have purchased many things together such as a TV and my car, however it was all on one bill and I either owed him money or he owed me.

I recall reading somewhere that we need to provide proof of us living together, but I'm not sure how to do this as we're still young and having joint bank accounts and stuff like that was never something we saw as necessary.

Any help, guys?

I'm also wondering if there is anything else we should get/keep to help our process. I'm kinda blind to this process as of yet and we aren't married yet so I'm just hoping to get things going before then.

Thanks for any information!

 

[Azsereth]

My husband and I were in a long distance relationship for many years before he sponsored me, so the kinds of proof we gave might be a little different than what you can provide.

For when you sponsor him, you should include things like:

* Pictures (of the two of you together, with each other's families, friends, etc.). I recommend making sure that you have a copy of them all in the same place (so that you don't have to waste time scouring emails, begging family for pictures, etc.).
* Emails, chat logs, text messages - in addition to including emails between me and husband, we included emails to and from family members where our relationship was mentioned (like our engagement). I even included some emails between my husband and some of my family members.
* Phone bills with records of calls to each other. We didn't include *all* of our correspondence and call logs, but we wanted to demonstrate that we were in regular communication throughout our relationship, that our families took our relationship seriously, and we highlighted changes in our relationship.
* Declarations from friends and family members describing who they are, their relationship to the two of you, descriptions of when they've spent time with the two of you, and their attestation that your relationship is loving and genuine
* Proof of cohabitation - leases, utility bills
* Proof of financial support for the other - joint bank accounts, naming the other as a beneficiary for life insurance, proof of shared expenses

I'm sure there are a lot of other things that people have provided that I didn't include. There may be some amount of creativity involved. Like if you went on a trip together and used credit/debit cards to split the expenses...you could provide the date of the trip, travel itinerary with your names on it (or airline tickets), and provide both of your bank/credit card statements that show charges aligning with the dates and location of your trip. You'd want to provide an explanation for what you're trying to demonstrate (and highlight relevant information), but that'd be a way to show that you not only take trips together, but take care of each other financially.

If you think something might eventually come in handy, save it. If you stay organized when you're collecting supporting information, it could save you a lot of time later on when it comes time to put everything together.

I've read some people cautioning on providing too much supporting information, saying it may raise flags regarding the validity of your relationship if you seem like you were too prepared. I think it's normal to have trouble demonstrating some aspects of your relationship, and it's probably better that you can't do it absolutely perfectly throughout the entire duration of your relationship (who has the presence of mind to save everything so far in advance?)...just as long as you figure out a way to do it in the end.

P.S. This is something really small, but make sure your fiance has several certified copies of his birth certificate (it's better to have extra than to have to wait several weeks for one to arrive in the mail).