Communication Proof - How much is really needed?

Hi All,

I'm feeling confused about how much proof to include in the "communication" category for our spousal application. We were married late last year but have essentially been living together since fall of 2006 in Canada (so much of our communication has been talking). I'm tempted to include 2 or 3 e-mails from the start of our relationship and maybe two or three e-mails from each subsequent year. I don't feel that I need to go overboard in this category since I think the other supporting evidence we are providing will more than satisfy any concerns that our relationship is real. Any thoughts or experiences to share? Am I being stupid by not including 100+ e-mails?

I am already including the following proof in the sponsorship package:

Wedding & Reception

write up of event, wedding invitation, wedding RSVPs, shower invitation, wedding program, wedding photos (about 60), wedding budget ($25K), wedding bills, list of who attended and relationship to us, registry list (printed from online), special occasions permit (thing that let us drink!), cards received from shower and wedding guests.


Honeymoon

write up of trip, flights, hotel bookings, photos


Joint travel/vacations from 2006 to 2010

print outs of flight tickets for trips we took together to: Montreal, Nashville, Cleveland (twice), Pittsburgh, Las Vegas (3 times), Boston, Houston, Seattle, Egypt, Morocco, UK, Malaysia/Indonesia, Fiji/Australia, Vietnam/Thailand/Cambodia.


Additional photos

photos from trips, photos with family, photos with friends

ditto

If you have been living together, and the rest of your proof shows that, there is little or no need to have documentation of "communication" . . . they are mostly looking for proof of "contact" when not together, and if a couple has been together extensively, that is indeed contact of a high and convincing order.

We submitted very little proof of communication, none other than a number of emails (spaced out over the course of many years), but had proof of several holidays spent together and time I spent in Canada to be near her.

I am glad to see I am not the only one here that has been thinking of this.
When we first met online we only talked a bit over Yahoo IM but lost a lot of those since my computer didn't save them and my fiance's computer broke so we lost those but most of our communication was over the phone.

We talked for about 6 months from late May 2008 to November 2008 before we met. So I am going to supply the instant messages I do have salvaged, screencap of him on cam, and phone records from May 2008-November 2008. I am trying to make the best of what we do have.

We have lived together ever since November of 2008 but were unable to gather many joint documents until now as many people and companies wouldn't let me be a part of anything based on me not being a resident yet though I tried to explain that was what a lot of what I was requesting was going to be used for. So right now all we have is 2 joint bank accounts, a savings account, joint credit cards, cards mailed to me at the same address, drivers license with the same address, cards and pictures from celebrating holidays and birthdays with his family since I lived here, evidence of me staying with him in the hospital when he was sick and that is a bit of what we have right now.

I am hoping that a lot of these will satisfy them. I plan to explain the reason why a lot of our accounts were not obtained until later on in our relationship and some of them we didn't want to obtain until closer to getting married. Though some things I worry about not having such as utility bills or rental agreements as we live with his parents. Or not having car documents as we can't afford a car right now until we both have income. And not having me as a beneficiary to life insurance because my fiance wouldn't qualify for many insurances based on him having cystic fibrosis. I guess we just have to make the best of what we do have. I am hoping it will be enough though for them to see that we really are a genuine couple but some things just aren't as easy to obtain as others. I feel if we tried to gather too much of what is on the list then it will look more staged than an actual progression in a relationship. Maybe that makes sense.

boundary47 wrote: The questions in the application seem intended to help a couple with a long-distance and/or short relationship understand what evidence they need to prove their relationship.  Couples like britincanada and depenabill can usually find lots of strong evidence to prove they have a conjugal relationship.  Things like telephone records, emails, chat logs, etc. are much weaker evidence than proof that a couple have actually lived together for a few years.  A long-distance relationship can be faked much more easily than a few of years "in the trenches" in a well-documented real-world partnership. My wife and I have known each other for only 16 months, live in separate countries, and have never established a shared home, so we knew our chat logs, emails, etc. would be much more important than those who live together.  By all means, provide records to show the development of the relationship.  But I think the strongest evidence you can provide is proof that you've joined your lives in all ways as a cohabiting couple.

Very good advice B47 as usual.
May ask how your case is doing? I noticed you updated it to say Code 12. What might that be?

britincanada: I am so glad to see though that we are not the only ones going through this. I am hoping to get his mom or dad to write a letter stating the same though I doubt I can get them to get it notarized as his mom is very picky to anything being notarized or legally binding. :(  We also thought to write our own rent contract but we do not pay rent but we do however pay so much money a month to his mom to pay for the phone/internet/cable bill. Even if we don't have that to include then we may later on since we may be moving in September so gosh forbid if they need more documents or interview, we will have more proof.