evidence of relationship

[sarah and hicham 3]

My fiance's interview is a long way off, but I have some questions about evidence of our relationship. The first one is phone calls: I call my fiance several times a week for a few minutes using a phone card. The only thing is that on my cell phone bill it doesn't show my fiance's number, just the 1800 number I dial to use my phone card, BUT that 1800 number is on my phone card bills so should I try to show that number on my cell phone bill and link it to my phone card bill? Sorry that sounds extremely confusing.

Another thing is that we speak and write in French together as I am fluent in French and Hicham is not fluent in English so it is easier. If he brings emails to his interview, should we leave them in French? I'm not sure that his English will be good enough for him to have the interview in English so I was thinking I should leave them in French so they can see that we both speak French.

We have pictures, plane reservation receipts, ticket receipts, passport stamps, phone card bills, cell phone bills, emails.... what else?

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

Sarah

[~kiyah~ 14]

Sarah,

I would definitely have any emails/letters you have of your communications translated into English...this is a requirement >> Anything not in English must be translated <<

Also, If there is anyway you can contact the company where you purchased the phone cards...if you still have the actual cards it might help. They will need to see his phone number, I know some phone card companies do not provide this, but some do. Also...you may want to try a couple of different methods of talking on the phone. Every month, my phone bills amount to 250.00 - 300.00 a month, but that is because we talk nearly every day. I use 2 different methods...of course calling a mobile phone and not a landline does cost a little more:

1. JoinVip - This company has pretty good rates for Morocco (26 cents), you can top up your account online 24x7 in increments of 25.00 or more, add your home phone and cell phone numbers so all you have to do is dial the 800 number. I am on the VIP Preferred plan. Also there is a track record of ALL your calls which shows you the telephone number called, date and duration of the call. I do add up the totals for each month so it is easily noticable exactly how much we spend on the phone together.

2. StarFone - This company also has good rates to Morocco (23.9 cents) There are 2 ways to use this service...I have them added to my home phone service and they bill me every month, the limit is 75.00 a month. OR they do have a prepaid option... you provide credit card number and there is no limit to the amount of calls you can make in a month. StarFone also gives you statements of the numbers you called, date and duration. It is also good to see the amount of money you spend along with these statements...just like a regular phone bill.

I also use my comcast phone service, but the rates are terrible so I only use that in an emergency or if I have exhausted all other resources.

Try these services, they have worked out very well for us and I have not found cheaper rates anywhere on the internet. Oh...and there are NO hidden charges whatsoever.

~Kiya~

Edited February 28, 2006 by Kiya

[Bosco 1]

IDT has a card that is .18 a minute to both mobile and home lines in Morocco and they keep a call log. You can find it by going to IDT.net and following the calling card link to the global card.

Rebecca

[~kiyah~ 14]

Thank you Rebecca...I'm signing up with IDT now, hehe. I usually have to call his cell phone which makes the charge even more...saving more than 10 cents a minute is going to be a HUGE savings, even with the 1.99 charge a month.

~Kiya~

[LebaneseMama 1]

OK heres a question : When Ali & I write anything to each other it is in english letters but arabic words example : Marhaba, keefeck ya habibi ? Because I don't know how to read or write arabic .. and he doesn't know English. Do I need to get everything translated too ? If I do, translated by an official or me ? I have ALOT of cards and letters .. that is going to be a nightmare to translate all of them : Insert long whine here: Oh well I have to look at it as one more step to getting to be with my husband and starting a family.

Also, I do not have a $300 phone bill. Lebanon is like .12 a minute .. my phone bill is around $70 (we talk every other day because of our crrazzzzyyyyy busy schedules). We both work full time, I go to school full time, are they going to care that I don't spend 24/7 talking to him ?

Edited February 28, 2006 by LebaneseBride

[scy 0]

You don't have to get your evidence translated. The only items you need translation are official documents; birth certificates, police certificates, marriage certificates...

Embassies and consulates don't want to read your love letters. They want to see that you sent the love letters. So save the envelopes with the postal stamps.

Letters/e-mails/chat logs are easily faked and are mostly secondary evidence. Envelopes with postal stamps, photos with dates, airline boarding passes, phone bills are not so easily faked and should be the primary evidence.

If the embassy required all evidence to be translated, it would cost a fortune and they will face a revolt from the visa applicants. It's not the quantity of evidence either, it's the quality.

[Bosco 1]

OK heres a question : When Ali & I write anything to each other it is in english letters but arabic words example : Marhaba, keefeck ya habibi ? Because I don't know how to read or write arabic .. and he doesn't know English. Do I need to get everything translated too ? If I do, translated by an official or me ? I have ALOT of cards and letters .. that is going to be a nightmare to translate all of them : Insert long whine here: Oh well I have to look at it as one more step to getting to be with my husband and starting a family.

Also, I do not have a $300 phone bill. Lebanon is like .12 a minute .. my phone bill is around $70 (we talk every other day because of our crrazzzzyyyyy busy schedules). We both work full time, I go to school full time, are they going to care that I don't spend 24/7 talking to him ?

You don't need a $300 a month phone bill. They will want evidence that you communicate regularly, not constantly. It sounds like you have quite a bit of proof. Try to keep the envelopes for the mail if you don't already do so.

Rebecca

[jennieh 0]

Id say find your phone records somehow. I only have my cellular phone so I just call him that way before we mostly talked online couldnt afford to call so much. But now I call him once or twice a week. And I sent the phone bills that I have so when he does get the interview date finally he will have them.

[LebaneseMama 1]

OK now I'm really freaking out !! I just looked at my records ... I have all the phone bill stubs saved. I DO NOT have the actual logs saved ... they are all gone !!! I never thought I would need those up until now. Would the phone compnay provide me with the logs ?!? Oh my God ... I feel so dumb now.

[dawnnhatem 0]

You guys spend how much??? ouch. Have you considered signing up for vonage? I hate vonage...and I cant wait to be done with them forever, BUT I spend 24.95 a month plus tax($28.xx/month total) and its unlimited use. we talk too much sometimes, rarely skipping a day and usually several times a day And it is easy to print off the calling history. You have to sign up for it with US billing/acct info and you get a phone number with any area code you want. they send you the free adapter that goes on the computer...any computer, even the one at his house. he needs high speed internet, but thats it. you dial a US phone number and the phone rings at his house for a flat rate and you talk all you want. the quality is not as good as a regular landline connection, but its more than clear enough and 100x better than any phone card connection I ever had. I cant believe you all pay that...look into this if he has high spd...and consider hooking him up if he doesn't...it has to be less expensive than the phone cards.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

We didn't turn in any phone bills. Our main communication was via msn, icq and email. I think the only evidence we had of our communication was 5 or 6 screenshots of our email inboxes, a few sample emails and photocopies of some letters and the envelopes we sent back and forth.

[honeyblonde 0]

I agree with Rahma. We didn't talk by phone more than about 3 times while I was waiting for Abdel. His spoken English was difficult to understand but his written English was great. We spoke nightly for several hours on yahoo messenger, occassionally using the headphones to voice chat. We found that we had to type a lot even with the headphones to explain words the other didn't understand.

I didn't send any phone bills and only copies of two phone cards.

[Dixie_Peach 1]

OK heres a question : When Ali & I write anything to each other it is in english letters but arabic words example : Marhaba, keefeck ya habibi ? Because I don't know how to read or write arabic .. and he doesn't know English. Do I need to get everything translated too ? If I do, translated by an official or me ? I have ALOT of cards and letters .. that is going to be a nightmare to translate all of them : Insert long whine here: Oh well I have to look at it as one more step to getting to be with my husband and starting a family.

Also, I do not have a $300 phone bill. Lebanon is like .12 a minute .. my phone bill is around $70 (we talk every other day because of our crrazzzzyyyyy busy schedules). We both work full time, I go to school full time, are they going to care that I don't spend 24/7 talking to him ?

You don't need a $300 a month phone bill. They will want evidence that you communicate regularly, not constantly. It sounds like you have quite a bit of proof. Try to keep the envelopes for the mail if you don't already do so.

Rebecca

oh no! i didn't save the envelopes... but i did save the letters... and cards... they are dated... is this gonna be a problem?

[jennieh 0]

I dont think you need the envelopes its probably up to you. Like us my husband and I were friends for over 3 yrs before we began to like eachother as more. When I went there I found out he has kept everything my family and I have all sent him so far, and they arent all date but he has the envelopes so its good cause our relations as friends and more date back in letters to 2000. It probably depends mostly on your visa type that you get that you need this for. Id assume K1 since they want you to meet and have proof of it.

[Bosco 1]

oh no! i didn't save the envelopes... but i did save the letters... and cards... they are dated... is this gonna be a problem?

I really doubt it would be a problem, but as SCY wrote, the envelopes are much harder of fake. You have plenty of time to send new letters. Keep in mind, you will also be proving your ONGOING relationship and Jamal will be bringing the originals of the items you submitted in the petition.

Rebecca