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Proof of relationship?

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freefrey View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Jan 2013 at 12:18am
Last summer I applied for Permanent Residence, my wife is my sponsor.

I just got an email from CIC asking for:

"
Proof of Relationship: Document proving your relationship with your inviter/family member"

We sent in a copy of our Marriage License with our application. We also provided them with copies of bus tickets showing our travels back and forth to see eachother, a copy of our lease when we shared an apartment in the US. I am not sure what else to send them. I don't have copies of emails, or PMs to give them. Is there some other proof I can provide? Any ideas?



Edited by freefrey - 22 Jan 2013 at 12:22am
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scylla View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scylla Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jan 2013 at 8:29am
Yes - you definitely didn't provide very much supporting evidence.

Do you have any of the following? Photos from the wedding, photos from other events, photos from your travel together, photos of guests who attended your wedding, wedding bills (e.g. reception, dress, etc.), insurance policies that name each other, joint bank accounts, joint utility bills, evidence of gifts you gave each other.

Do you really have no emails or PMs? Not even recent ones? How do you communicate? Can you provide phone records showing that you call each other?
Outland Spousal (Buffalo):
App recd: 05/28/2010
Sponsor approved: 06/28/2010
Processing started: 08/19/2010
Passport request: 10/01/2010
Landed: 10/05/2010
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freefrey View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote freefrey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2013 at 2:21am
Oh, I forgot to say we did send wedding photos.

I'm with her in Canada right now as a visitor. We mostly used Skype to talk when we were apart.

There are texts but some of them are pretty personal.

There was never any real emails sent. We always talked on the phone or MSN and any record of those are long gone by now.

We have xmas cards and stuff from family. We are having a baby. There is a life insurance policy. So we now have some ideas too. More photos I guess and all that other stuff.

I do have another question though. Are we allowed to send all this extra stuff by email or do we need to send stuff by mail?

PS. -also, if we're getting this request now does this mean they've started reviewing my application and that once we've given them all the info they requested that they will be done soon?


Edited by freefrey - 25 Jan 2013 at 2:32am
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dpenabill View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dpenabill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2013 at 3:39am

Quote freefrey:
Quote Last summer I applied for Permanent Residence, my wife is my sponsor.

I just got an email from CIC asking for:

"Proof of Relationship: Document proving your relationship with your inviter/family member"

We sent in a copy of our Marriage License with our application. We also provided them with copies of bus tickets showing our travels back and forth to see eachother, a copy of our lease when we shared an apartment in the US. I am not sure what else to send them. I don't have copies of emails, or PMs to give them. Is there some other proof I can provide? Any ideas?


I am not sure, but it looks like you need to read their request carefully.

Proof of relationship (meaning proof that sponsor and applicant are in a qualified relationship) is not the same thing as proof that the relationship is genuine.

Copy of a "marriage license" is not proof that the sponsor and PR applicant are in fact legally married.

Proof of relationship based on legal marriage ordinarily (there are exceptions, but not any that are relevant here) requires a Certificate of Marriage issued by the proper authority in the jurisdiction where the marriage took place.

This is critical, absolutely necessary proof. Again, it is about proving the existence of the qualifying relationship, and is not the same thing as other proof (like photos and all) proving that that relationship is genuine.

Not sure what stage you are at. Proof of the existence of a qualified relationship must be included for the sponsor to be approved as a sponsor, so I do not know. If the sponsor has been approved that is something you should know.

Read the communication carefully. Think about what proof of the existence of the marriage you submitted.


Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions.



BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration
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freefrey View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote freefrey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2013 at 6:37am
They have a certificate of marriage. All our legal documents are in order.
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BAM123 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BAM123 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2013 at 9:23am
I would try and send those txts even though they are personal to you.  When I had applied, I sent a whole package just of chats we had online, and of course, there was personal stuff in there.  I didn't have time to read through it all as there was alot, nor was i going to strike out the personal stuff.  Realistically, the people processing your file, you will never ever meet them.  So does it really matter?  We are all human at the end of the day!  Just a thought....
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Megen View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2013 at 10:25pm
When I applied my husband and I didn't really e-mail or chat online either. We called each other every day. We showed our phone bills. I had a land line that showed how long the calls were. The calls ranged anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours. My cellphone company at the time broke down text messages. It only showed phone numbers and not the message itself. Maybe that's something you can get from your cellphone bills without showing the actual messages. 
The only e-mails I sent were ones that both families were included in when we were planning the wedding since both families were so far apart. 
I sent in around 50 photos chronicling our relationship. Roughly 10-15 from each year we were together. I also sent in our insurance information. I showed on bank statements when my husband sent me money to help support me (he was making more and living apart was expensive!). 
The last items I included were letters of support from his parents and mine saying they witnessed our relationship grow and were in attendance at the wedding. 
Good Luck!
Spousal Outland (Buffalo)
App Rcvd: 7/19/10
Sponsor Approved: 8/20/10
Buffalo Processing: 9/7/10
Decision Made: 9/28/10
PPR: 9/30/10
COPR and PP in hand 10/12/10
Landed 10/29/10
PR Card Rcd 12/6/2010
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dominic1984 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 2013 at 3:53pm
Hi there!

My situation is that I'm sponsoring my (now) wife for PR in Canada. She is Swedish, we live together in Spain, and have been sharing an apartment and our lives for 8 years.

Together we have a 3.5 yo son, for whom we've requested a certificate of Canadian Citizenship. We got married in Canada last September but it was a very informal wedding. We'd been amassing all the requisite paperwork in Spain to get married there, but the amount of translations and forms we had to present as foreigners was unbelievable. When we went to Canada for holidays and saw how comparatively easy it was there, we jumped at the opportunity. We had an informal marriage in front of a Marriage Commissioner, and made the plan that we would later hold an event with our friends and family.

The problem we're finding is that we don't have much to show for these 8 years of conjugal life. I've been working while she was a student and then a mother and homemaker. I have no effective way of showing that I've been supporting her financially through these years, all the bills and contracts were in my name for simplicity. We've lived together since the very early days of our relationship so there was no need for email or phone calls. Any early love letters via email have long since disappeared into the digital ether.

The only proof of relationship we have is to sort through all our digital pictures and create a timeline from when we met to now, and our Canadian Marriage certificate, but the certificate is very recent. We have a Spanish birth certificate that lists us as parents of our son.

We've asked my father to write a sort of affidavit vouching for our relationship. He is a retired University professor who was faculty at UBC for decades, I'm hoping that might have some sway. We are also asking her parents to write a letter vouching for our relationship, but I think this will be of lesser value, as they are Swedish whereas my father is a Canadian citizen.

Other than I have the rental contract of our apartment of the last 4 years. I had her name listed on the contract as living there with me in case anything were to happen to me, as I ride a motorcycle daily in Barcelona city. I could have it certified and translated.

I'm hoping that the fact of parenthood, and our subsequent marriage by none other than Canada herself will make them less stringent in terms of the documents they demand, but I'd also like to be sure that I'm sending in enough supporting info the first time, as we'd like to get the process done as quickly as possible.
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TrishC View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TrishC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013 at 3:25am
Thanks for posting all this - I had the same question. It's def. a bit uncomfortable having to send in personal texts & emails.  Luckily my hubby is a packrat so all those old cards and such that he never throws away will be of use.


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