We haven't kept any receipts

[Ines]

Hi,

I am sponsoring my husband and an interview is scheduled. We don't know yet the reason why the interview is needed but we are trying to gather more evidence about our relationship. The problem is that there so many activities/expenses that we did together but that we can't prove.
For instance, my husband bought some furniture for our appartment. I used my credit card to purchase them and he paid me back. For some items we have the bill/invoice in my name. For some other items (bought for exemple from Ikea) we had only receipts that we discarded because we did not know that we might need them. Same was with all the other expenses (while he was here with me), we were paying either by my credit card or by cash money as he was charged a lot when he used his own credit card. And whenver I visited him I never needed to use my cards.
And because we were not able to prove all this we preferred not mentionning them in the questionnaire (we haven't even listed the gifts we exchanged). Now my questions are:
- Should we show them the bills of the furniture (that have my name not his)?
- His family sent me a lot of gifts and my family sent him also some. Should we talk about these gifts?
I would appreciate if anyone can help us with this and if people can share their own experience about things that they did but were not able to prove.
Meanwhile, good luck to everyone!

 

[Baloo]

If you do not have the proof then you cannot make it up.
Provide what you can and where you cannot, offer explanations. No doubt these details will be questioned at the interview.

 

[Cdagal]

We never thought to save receipts either. What I did do, though, was take pictures of some of the gifts that we exchanged and include a small explanation and approximate date with each one. My father built us a custom cabinet as a wedding gift, he sent gifts for me and my children for which there would be no receipts..that kind of thing. And yes, I think you should include your furniture receipts, along with a brief explanation.

 

[Ines]

Thanks Baloo and Cdagal for your prompt replies.
I have thought also of taking pictures of the lovely traditinal dresses and accessories my mother in law sent me but I wasn't sure if it will help.
We did not imagine the application would be that complicated. Whenever we were together my husband and I, all we thought of if enjoying our time especially that we live far from each other. We never thought about documenting every move. We even haven't taken a lot of pictures together. in most of the pictures we took, it was either him or me because the other one was taking the pic. and Often, I asked him to stop taking pictures so that we could just enjoy the moment.

 

[BeShoo]

You should mention anything that's relevant even if you don't have receipts. Pictures of gifts and joint possessions are good, though maybe not as good as receipts.

If you have the credit card statements, those would be useful evidence. If you don't, I'm quite sure that your credit card company could provide them to you for a fee. I would ask, especially if you know what months major purchases were made.

Pictures of only one of you can be good, especially if you can make the case that one of you was behind the camera while the other was in front. We have put together several pictures where each of us took pictures of the other. That at least showed that we were in the same place and probably at the same time. Also, if I went from Canada to Orlando, and picture of me in Orlando in some evidence that I was there where he lived, especially if the other evidence backs it up.

You need to provide whatever evidence you have. It may not be perfect, but it is what it is.

 

[missmini]

i would say show all u have:

- the receipts cannot be on both names (it's either one or the other one paying), so show mixed ones: some on ur name with explanation that u bought together furniture for ur home and some on his name with similar explanation; explain that while u were with him, he was using his cards and while he was with u, u were using
- for the gifts, traditional stuff, it's even harder to get receipts - if u buy things from a local market u almost never get receipt; so explain that and show pictures for the gifts u received from him, gifts he received from u, gifts u received from his family or u gave to his family, gifts he received from ur family or gave to ur family, or gifts u received together from both families - the marriage ones, so on...
- for the pictures, send what u have, from different dates, different places (make sure u cover a long period of time to show how the relationship developed, before and after the marriage); even if u r not together in the pics explain on the back where u were, the occasion and who took the picture (the one with u he took them and vice-versa)
- if u didn't show already show conversation (chats, emails, phone calls) during the times u were not together; but make sure u know exactly what r the chats and emails abt, maybe he will b asked abt them at the interview; also, don't send anything mentioning plans to immigrate
- i know that if u r married u don't need to send letters from friends/family but maybe it would b good if u'd have some with u; the letters should be from both ur side and his side

lastly look at ur relationship from outside and try to see any reason why they might have red flags and address those - be ready to answer for those questions at the interview; search on this forum possible interview questions and prepare for them and if u have time order the CAIPS notes and see what observations the officer wrote in ur file and why they call u for the interview; once u know that it would be easier to prepare

 

[BeShoo]

- if u didn't show already show conversation (chats, emails, phone calls) during the times u were not together; but make sure u know exactly what r the chats and emails abt, maybe he will b asked abt them at the interview; also, don't send anything mentioning plans to immigrate

This is a tricky point. It's good to have plans for your life together, probably good if you can show that you've explored the possibilities to either go to your partner's/spouse's country or to have him/her come to Canada. The important thing is to show that you really want to be together by any means possible.

What you don't want is to give the impression that the applicant is only looking for some way to move to Canada, even if getting married is the only way to do it. On the other hand, it should be perfectly fine to make plans for your life together, even if immigrating is the only way to do it. In fact, if you haven't made plans for your future life together, it really calls into question whether you marriage is genuine. These plans could well include immigration because you really can't be together if each of you is living in a different country.

 

[Ines]

Thanks Missmini and BeShoo for your advice. That was very helpful. We'll try to include all we can.

We don't have phone records as we were using mainly skype but we have millions of emails. In our application we printed out only the list of the messages we exchanged (showing the subject and the date) as well as the chat history. We also submitted very few emails (our first emails and few others as our relationship was progressing). But now, we went through all of them and chose many emails that might prove that our relationship is genuine.

As for mentioning immigration, we did mention that in our emails and it never occurred to my mind that it might be a problem since one of us have to move to the other. We're living in two different countries. As soon as we started talking we knew we're meant to be together for the rest of our life and the first thing we did was considering all the options to be together and whether was it possible or not. Living in Canada was the best option so far and I hope the interview will go well so that we can finally be together forever. It's really hard for us to be far from each other.

 

[Patricksgirls]

it also may help to get letters from friends and family explaining you both as a couple.

 

[Ines]

Some friends are writing letters for us. I hope it will help.

 

[missmini]

This is a tricky point. It's good to have plans for your life together, probably good if you can show that you've explored the possibilities to either go to your partner's/spouse's country or to have him/her come to Canada. The important thing is to show that you really want to be together by any means possible.

What you don't want is to give the impression that the applicant is only looking for some way to move to Canada, even if getting married is the only way to do it. On the other hand, it should be perfectly fine to make plans for your life together, even if immigrating is the only way to do it. In fact, if you haven't made plans for your future life together, it really calls into question whether you marriage is genuine. These plans could well include immigration because you really can't be together if each of you is living in a different country.

yeah I agree u need to show plans for the future and for sure it makes sense to discuss it when 2 people r from 2 different places; u don't need to worry that u sent emails/chats like that but also be ready to answer questions about them; there were cases where proof like that was shown and no questions were raised BUT also there were cases when proof like that was shown and questions were raised; usually, when the applicant is a man from a poorer country, this kind of correspondence could raise some red flags;

if u didn't show yet and if you have, show also romantic conversations between you 2, so they see how the romance and love grew between you too

letter from friends r very good; if you'll have some affidavits it will be better too; but i know for some people it's hard to write and maybe they don't know what they should say; so u should give them an insight for what the letter is, tell them to write what they think about both of u as individuals and as a couple and since when they know you, like that

also letters from family would be good too....from both sides but especially from ur side....

just prepare well and u'll do fine....whatever doubts they might have will be erased good luck!

 

[Ines]

letter from friends r very good; if you'll have some affidavits it will be better too; but i know for some people it's hard to write and maybe they don't know what they should say; so u should give them an insight for what the letter is, tell them to write what they think about both of u as individuals and as a couple and since when they know you, like that

also letters from family would be good too....from both sides but especially from ur side....

[/quote]

Letters from our families will not be easy to get. We come from two different cultural backgrounds and in both cultures it is not a common thing to write such letters. They will this weird (they will laugh at it I am sure). But we have so many common friends who can write letters them for us.

We never imagined this would be that complicated. I also never thought I would be showing my love emails to strangers, I consider them very private. Anyways, As you said Missmini: just prepare well and u'll do fine....whatever doubts they might have will be erased....

Thanks !