Pictures/letters...do we need it?

[TravellingNomad 12]

Hi guys and dolls...

my petition for the wife and kids are at the beginning stages...but my wife and I are already trying to prepare everything that we can think of. we have been together for 14 years. i see members posting indicating that the consul asked them for letters and pictures...but if i look at their timeline, they are newlyweds.

my question is...since we've been together 14 years (married for 10 years), will my wife need to bring our pictures and letters that she's accumulated throughout our 14 years of being together?

any input is appreciated.

[RyannTanya 2]

Obviously you guys must have loads of financial mingling between two of you. Financial evidence are considered to be primary evidence where as photos and letters sent to each other are considered as secondary evidence. But pictures could speak thousand words. So why don't you bring some pictures you guys have taken over the years along with any other evidence you have such as joint account statements/ deed showing join ownership of properties etc. Good luck!

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

I would bring a few photos- maybe 3-4 for each year, and certainly a couple for each time you have visited.

[TravellingNomad 12]

thanks for the replies.

yeah as far as financial co-mingling, we didn't start a joint account both over there and here until earlier this year. but i do have a a big stack (10 years worth) of printouts/receipts from the money remittance place i use to send money to her. but even with that, im worried they might question it. mainly because even though i've been sending money for ten years through this account, my wife didn't actually update the her name on it until a few years ago (probably about 4 years ago). i started using this account to send money before we got married.

also...there was a gap of five years (from March 2000 thru April 2005) that I was not able to go home to see the wife my son (only 1 child at that time) due to financial difficulties. will they question that? but since 05, i have been home each year though.

[TravellingNomad 12]

also no properties...our house (along with the houses of wife's brothers and sister) is on a big parcel of land that the wife's mother own. and we never really bothered with buying any properties because the plan had always been for them to eventually be here with me. just took longer than we anticipated to be in a financial situation for it to happen.

[Lancelotte25 1]

It won't hurt to bring those stuff besides you've married for a long time but financial statements and correspondents are most reliable source of evidence.