Spousal sponsorship
When submitting your application for spousal sponsorship, there are some items that are not necessarily required by the Canadian Spousal Sponsorship Supporting Documents checklist but will certainly help strengthen your case.
Simply providing the list of required documents rarely produces a strong case, it produces a complete one, one that is able to be reviewed but not necessarily successful.
When submitting a sponsorship application, you should think about the facts you want to demonstrate:
1. Your relationship status: married, common law or conjugal
2. You are a bona fide couple
3. You are in a committed and genuine relationship
4. You have joint goals and future plans
Providing the right documentation in addition to what is requested can help satisfy an officer that the above is true. If an officer is not convinced, this can lead to lengthy delays in processing as the officer will request further information from you. Otherwise, an officer may refuse the application outright.
You should submit documents such as:
- Personal Statement: Your particular outlook on the relationship, how It progressed, where it is now and your future goals together.
- Letters of Reference: Providing letters of reference from friends and family who know you as a couple can go a long way in satisfying the officer that you are a genuine couple. It stands to reason that if you have amalgamated your lives together, you are in a genuine relationship.
- Proof of Time Spent together: Travel itineraries, concert tickets, tickets to events etc. and any other such documentation you may provide that helps demonstrate how you have spent your time together also helps satisfy an officer of the genuineness of your relationship.
- Proof of Communication: Email correspondence, love letters, phone records etc. help show an officer that you are committed to each other regardless of being potentially separated by great distance. Proof of regular communication is key a strong application.
- Proof of Gifts: Providing gift receipts and other such documents as proof of the caring and thoughtful nature of your relationship will also help demonstrate to an officer that you are in a loving relationship.
- You should also try your best to properly label, itemize, categorize and otherwise organize the supporting evidence you will be providing. You cannot simply provide a pile of receipts and expect an officer to go through them all and make assertions based on assumption.
Let the officer know what you are submitting and why. These are just some examples of how you can turn a weak case into a strong one. If providing the required list of documents meant a successful application, there would be no such thing as a refusal.
