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Assalam o Alaikum everyone.
This forum has been a great help throughout the visa process and I will like to give back by putting into detail everything I submitted with my application. Pleasse note that I sent the NEW application package.
A little background about myself and my wife: She was my junior at the university but in a different department and we met via public speaking (me being the trainer
). We did have a lot of mutual friends and know each other way before we got engaged.
These are the categories of documents that are required:
- Forms
- Sponsor Supporting Documents
- Applicant Supporting Documents
- Relationship Supporting Documents
Forms:
First off its easier if you go through the forms BEFORE you get married. This will give you an insight as to what you will be required to give and you will then be able to take pictures, reciepts and other pieces of evidences as necessary. Secondly the new package contains forms that are pretty simple and straightforward. Arrange the forms (and all supporting documents) in the order mentioned in the document checklist.
- Sponsor Supporting Documents:
I put a cover letter before the Supporting documents which stated that I was submitting a letter from my employer, my recent pay stubs, my latest NOA and option printout (to get noa and optoin c printout, create an account on cra.gc.ca; everything will be there). CIC doesnt ask for pay stubs, lekn mainy attach krdi thi.
the letter that i got from my employer mainy us mein ye bhi likhwaya tha that i took vacations in march 2015 for my engagement and then again in novermber 2016 for my wedding.
- Applicant Supporting Documents:
You will need to submit the following:
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ORIGINAL Nikkah Nama; make sure you get it registered. jo nikkah khuan hongay they will know where to get the nikkah registered. Mera nikkah meri wife k ghar k paas ek masjid mein hau tha, so it got registered in the union council of that area. if your nikkah is performed on a different day as your rukhsati then the date your nikkah is performed will be the date of wedding on all official documents
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True translation of the NIkkah Nama: this should be notarized on BOTH the pages
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Marriage certificate: this is issued by the union council. jis UC mein your nikkah will be registered go there with a copy of nikkah nama, copies of your, your wife's and her and your parents' and nikkah khuan's CNICs. They take 800rs for the marriage certificate and give it you within 3-4 days. UC se ja k hi collect krna parhta hai
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Family Registration Certificate: ye nadra k office ja k bnwana parhta hai but FRC bnwanay ka pre-requisite is that both of you should be married on your CNICs. So first go to nadra for NIC (NIC mein changes k lye you just need original Nikkah nama, and parents' nic). Also FRC can be applied online as well. The site is id.nadra.gov.pk . They will send you a pdf of the FRC in your email (I applied online and submitted a colored copy of the FRC) - this document is optional; but nice to submit
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Certified copy of CNIC: Both sides of the cnic should be copied onto a single side of the page. get this copy notarized. If you go to any photostat shop and tell them k ntoarize krne k lye chahye hain, they are going to copy bothsides on the same side of the page. Its not necessary that the husband name on the CNIC show your name, but its a plus point. I would suggest getting nic done. Moreover, make sure that the wife does not have any mehndi on her fingertips when you go for nic. Warna they are going to return you back. My wife removed her mehndi using olivia cream bleach on her finger tips.
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True Translation of CNIC: Notarized copy of translation of cnic
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ORIGINAL birth certificate
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Certified copy of your spouse's passport; again its not necessary that the passport be made after marriage with your name in husband's name part, but its a plus point
Relationship/other documents:
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Photographs: Make sure photographer or anyone is taking pictures from the front with you with nikkah khuan and other people present visible when you are signing the nikkah nama. Sign krne ki pics are very important. Sub log be-shak nazar na aye but kuch log nazar anay chahye hain. Same goes for the nikkah signing of your wife. If you have mehndi event where you and your wife are together with guests, take pictures of that. Big groups ki pics honi chahye hain from baraat and valima. apne and your wife k friends, if invited, unke bhi barhay groups hon. family groups to bun jatay hain is lye i am not going to tell you guys about that. Similarly have your photographer randomly take pictures of the crowd in the wedding (this will show that there were many guests present, however my photographer didnt and CIC was still fine with it, but many people on the forum advise on sending such pics). Baraat ki entry ki pics honi chahye hain where you will be entering the hall with your family (again ziada se ziada log nazar aenge utna acha hai). Rukhsati ki pics in which your wife is meeting her parents and her family members. you leaving with her. Agar quran sir pe rkha hai to pics mein wo nazar ana chahye hai (again its not necessary; we did not follow this custom of quran over the head so no such pics were included and CIC had no issues with it either). Garhi mein bethte huy ki pics bhi. Most importantly have someone take pictures of the rasmain that happen when the bride and groom get back home (make sure the place looks like a room in a house). I also took a selfie with my wife on her bed which showed that the decorations as well. Same to be done on valima as well. Barhay groups ki pics are best cz they show that a lot of guests were present. Shadi k baad jo jo dawatain hon us mein pics len. Make sure that you have group photos in them as well, with other people. If you and your wife go on any dates after marriage take selfies in the restaurant, jis mein ye pta chal rha ho k restaurant mein hi bethe hain. If you are going for honeymoon, make sure that you take pictures there as well. In all these pictures make sure that the couple is smiling and they are together. Take screenshots of any video calls made during the course of the relationship. We did not go on our honeymoon, so we did not send any such pics or any other evidence for that.
PLEASE NOTE: Even though the new application package asked us to send only 10 or 15 pictures I sent them 70+ pictures; the reason being that the new application package is a general application package for EVERY country applicant. So I took information from the old package which asked for 50 pictures, and I sent any pic I thought had a significant value.
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Social Media posts: Make sure that you upload on facebook that you are married. take a printout of all the comments on that post. Before getting married i was engaged to my wife, so I had earlier posted about that as well and i submitted that post as well. I submitted the "see friendship" page of me and my wife. Basically this page shows all the posts that we were tagged in together, or any posts we tagged each other or posted on each others wall. Make sure to checkin to places wherever you visit, this will come in the see friendship page. I only submitted the posts from our wedding only. Even though i had posts from before that as well, but i only submitted from wedding to the point i applied (isi k hi 27 pages hogaye thay).
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Receipts: Hall receipts, receipts for wedding photography, jewelry, bridal and groom dresses, parlor receipts, and receipts for catering. Also attach your wedding invitation cards. Also receipts for any gifts bought by each other (before, for and after wedding) and restaurant receipts for dinner that the couple went on a date. If you guys went shopping, submit those receipts as well. If you went on your honeymoon, attach hotel receipts and other receipts from that place.
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Communication Proof: I sent screenshots from whatsapp from every month we have been together with the date of the chat visible in the screenshot. I also sent some of the important emails we exchanged. We exchanged more than 200 emails (we started 5 months after our engagement on exchanging emails). I exported all the emails to pdf and only printed those emails in which we were either congratulating each other for different accomplishments (graduation, getting job, getting promoted etc.), wishing each other a happy birthday, on eid, a happy new year, any anniversary, etc.
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Financial Support - Its not necessary, but its a plus point if you send money to your wife after marriage. I used to send $150 monthly. I know a friend who used to send $100 monthly. So they dont care about the amount you are sending, but its a plus point when they see that you are sending it monthly. Kuch log ye bhi krte hain k jb tk application submit nahi ki hoti tub tk bhejte hain pese and phir application submit krne k baad they stop sending money. this is wrong since cic can ask you later during your application process for proof of ongoing relationship and us mein ye daalna is important agar pehle show kia hai aapne that you sent money earlier. I used to send money through finmark financial; you can do it online and it gets directly deposited to your spouse's account. they email you the receipt.
I also submitted a letter explaining the name being used. Both me and my wife have a first name with which we are not called with (my wife's syeda and mine is muhammad); so according to them the names that should be used to refer the sponsor and the applicant would be the first names. I wrote a letter stating that we prefer being called by our last name (or if you prefer being called by your middle name, mention so). And after this letter I just used our last names to mention each other.