What if you go a little overboard on organization?

[canadianwoman]

Keep in mind that some people are approved with little evidence simply because of their situation. If your spouse comes from a richer country, and the two of you are similar in age and education, the same race and religion, and the development of your relationship seems 'normal' to the visa officer, then less evidence is needed. If your spouse comes from a desperately poor country notorious for fraud, the two of you are 'too' different in age/education/race/religion/social class, etc., you met online, you got married quickly, or something about the relationship seems odd, then you are going to need a LOT of evidence.

 

[BeShoo]

I have way too much evidence myself. I will have to find a way to be selective. Our IM chats from Sept/07 to Apr/09 would be over 3600 pages if I printed them out. Last April I had to make a new ID, and I don't know how much more has been added since then.

Besides the fact that some of that volume is too personal, I wouldn't even think of sending that much in.

 

[Nej]

Nyssa, I'm sure your's is just fine. I'm afraid of mine though, my husband and I met online a year ago this month and were married last month. I was only able to visit him 3 times and due to his job and school he wasn't able to visit me. I lost or had my passport stolen with the stamp from my fist trip, and got that replaced (but no record of my first visit). We have tons of IMs (600 pages between Jan - Oct) and phone call records (average is 500 mins a month). We texted a ton, but I called my cell phone company and they told me they couldn't get any record of texting, so I have no proof for that. We're not picture people, so not a lot of photos. Both his and my family and friends know about us and that we're married and my family came for the wedding. I'm sending everything I can think of and can obtain. Hopefully, we'll be okay and all goes well.....so stressful now that I think of all of this....

btw Nyssa, did you get the FBI clearance figured out?

 

[saralune]

Just do not over do it....

Honestly, I had LOTS of evidence.. and then I gave it to my friend who's an immigration lawyer and she got ride of some of them, as she felt they were not necessary..

For example, I had phone bills for every month, but she only used one bill for every 3-4 months. I have TONS of e-mail she made me select about 4-5 a months, but she narrowed it down to even less.

I understand wanting to give as much, but too much can become overwhelming to them. My freind mentioned something about the officer trowing some stuff out if it was too much for them to manage...

if you send me a PM, i can give you a list of what she included and what she left out.

 

[bonacker]

Wow, my entire "proof" folder wasn't an inch thick, i don't think. Maybe one inch? I didn't include phone records at all, because I've never saved them. And because it seemed like a pared-back folder of simple things that basically couldn't be faked was better than an avalanche of data. So I included two newspaper clippings of our wedding story (from the NY Times and our local paper -- not very likely to be faked); and photos of landmark events where we were together with friends and family -- my husband at court during the adoption of my daughter; my husband with my family at Thanksgiving, etc etc. Maybe only 30 photos, total. Plus a few letters with postmarks, and two pages of xeroxes showing stamps from my since-expired passport. Hmm. Hope it's enough.

I used bright Post-Its to create tabs, so it would be easy for them to thumb thru and make sure everything was there. And paperclips. And just put a big rubber band around the whole thing.

STAPLES: Hey, by the way, I tried to comb thru the intstructions to see if we were warned not to use staples, but I couldn't find anything banning staples, so each individual form was stapled together, too. But -- was that a mistake????

 

[nyssa]

Thanks again My application is ready to fit in a medium sized box. I know it's a lot of information and they can throw whatever out they'd like... and if it takes an extra month to sort through, so be it. I'm not going back now, hahaha! I've put way too much work into it

Nej - No doubt you'll be okay! My husband can never visit me because of his illegal status in the US. Actually, yours sounds pretty good! Every situation is different, and I'm sure CIC takes that into consideration. That's what keeps me going ;D

Still no word from the FBI. Sadly, my application is doomed to be sent off in February and I have to redo a lot of it to match up with February instead of January. I'm really bummed... thank you for your support though.

 

[ColorMePanda]

Good Luck nyssa!
Let me know when you send it off?

 

[nyssa]

Thanks! I know I've been a little absent from the forum as of late (lots of things going on around here!) but once I get my FBI Request in, I'll have to have a party! ;-D

Looks like February is my month (must have been fate, heh). Again, thank you for the well wishes.

 

[Nej]

nyssa, I'll be with you in Feb also. Still waiting on my FBI clearace too. Here is a phone number to check on any fax you sent. (304) 625-9619