Redundancy in supporting documents.

[goldfinger]

Hello,

How much redundancy do you need in your supporting documents showing that you live together with your spouse, and showing that you are both involved with each other? I have a metric tonne, so it's easy for me to spend an inordinate amount of time pulling these together, but I'm wondering what the "sweet spot" is.

The form generally states that you need a minimum of one supporting document for each checklist item, but should I be including multiples of things? For example - my wife and I have two 4 total joint bank accounts. Two checking accounts and two savings accounts. I could, in theory, provide statements from each of those accounts dating back pretty darned far (as far back as the bank keeps them I believe. We've had them since 2014.) I also have a letter from the bank declaring that we've been joint customers as well. I have letters from health insurance providers, current and past, stating that my wife and I are under the same insurance, as well as years of prior tax forms showing the both of us being covered by the same plan. I could go on and on like this.

My big question is - should I really provide more than one "document" or "example" for each checklist item for the supporting documentation? Is 2-3 unique items somewhat the sweet spot? At which point can I safely say "We've established that we live at the same house, and that we are reasonably intertwined in a marriage."

Let me know. Thanks!

 

[ZOOZ]

Short answer yes, multiples. The more the better. Don’t leave any room for questions or doubt and be creative. Sworn affidavits from friends, neighbours, landlords, family are important too, for example. Create an index and tab everything. Also be smart about the content in what ur submitting- if it can raise any odd questions or open any lines of speculation- do not include it. Good luck!

 

[armoured]

I somewhat disagree - quality over quantity. You don't need (or I think even want) for them to go through a mountain of documents. It will take them more time. In my view two or three of each should be fine,particularly if your case is straightforward.

There may be cases (not straightforward ones) or with more so-called red flags where adding more may be helpful, or if some types of info are not available at all (to compensate by more in other areas), but an encyclopedia of your relationship should not usually be necessary.

 

[Canada2020eh]

I somewhat disagree - quality over quantity. You don't need (or I think even want) for them to go through a mountain of documents. It will take them more time. In my view two or three of each should be fine,particularly if your case is straightforward.

There may be cases (not straightforward ones) or with more so-called red flags where adding more may be helpful, or if some types of info are not available at all (to compensate by more in other areas), but an encyclopedia of your relationship should not usually be necessary.

I agree, you can add a bit more than what they ask for but don't overwhelm them. you have it from 2014 until now, use the one from then and a current one, certainly don't need all of the stuff in between.